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A World of Curious Facts, 
Qiieer Fancies, and Lively Anec- 
dotes about 

PIPES, / 

TOBACCO, 

( MAVIS \m]'''V 

publishbdIby' J 
UNION BOOK CO., 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Copyright, 1891, by George J. Manson. 



I. 



What Tobacco is and where it Comes 
FROM — Its Manufacture a Govern- 
ment Monopoly in France — Anec- 
dote: "Your coat-tail is on fire" 
— Smoking among the Chinese— The 
Indians Looked upon Tobacco as a 
Gift of the Gods — " The Calumet op 
Peace" — Tobacco in Europe — Its 
Great Value as a Medicine— Various 
Cures Effected by its Use— Early 
Efforts to Suppress the Weed — A 
Moral Lesson Drawn from Smoke : 
" Thus Think and Smoke Tobacco." 

Botanically speaking there are forty va- 
rieties of the tobacco plant, growing to an 
altitude of from three to fifteen feet from 
the ground. It is cultivated in Germany, 
Holland, European Turkey, China, East 
Indies, Persia, parts of Asiatic Turkey, 
Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, Brazil, and, in 
our own country, in the States of Virginia, 
Maryland, Kentucky and Connecticut. 
European tobacco is not as strong as that 
grown in America. The tobacco grown in 
Germany, for instance, may be smoked 
continually without any bad effects ; if the 



lover of the weed used tlie same amount of 
the American variety the effect would be 
very disagreeable, even dangerous. 

Although the method of cultivation is 
the same in all countries, the differences 
that exist in the taste and perfume of to- 
bacco come from the natural richness of 
the soil and the excellence of the temper- 
ature. The best tobacco is grown in Cuba, 
Mexico, Brazil, and, above all, in the 
United States, where the soil is fertile and 
the sky pure and full of sun. After Cuba, 
the choicest tobacco comes from Virginia, 
Borneo, Ceylon, and the Philippine Islands. 
In Asia, and principally in Persia, the 
cultivation is carried on extensively. As 
for the Turkish tobacco, it is extremely 
aromatic. The best brands come from 
Roumelia, Syria, Nomadan, Karamania, 
and the borders of the Persian Gulf. China 
furnishes a straw-yellow tobacco, which is 
smoked a good deal in England. Japan, 
Cochin China, India, and the Tonkin pro- 
duce only mediocre varieties. Burmah is 
more favored. At Manila the cultivation 
is more and more important ; Manila cigars 
are sent all over the extreme Orient. Hol- 
land has valuable tobacco lands at Java and 
Sumatra. The products are sold at Amster- 
dam, and are used throughout Europe as 
wrappers for costly cigars. 

The United States is the most productive 
country in the world, and at least half of 
its production is exported. Mexico and 



Brazil furnish very aromatic tobaccos; 
that of Brazil is the most combustible in 
the world. A great variety of species is 
also cultivated throughout Europe, but 
these are generally of very ordinary qual- 
ity, and are consumed at home. England 
is the only country where tobacco is not 
grown. The German tobaccos are mostly 
cultivated on the borders of the Rhine, at 
Baden and at Mayence. They are fresh 
and light, but of poor flavor. 

The weed was introduced into France by 
a Frenchman named Jean Nicot, and from 
him the botanical name, nicotine, is de- 
rived. The manufacture of tobacco was 
free in 1621, and for a long time proved a 
profitable business. Napoleon was attracted 
at a ball in the Tuileries by a lady gor- 
geously dressed and bedecked with many 
diamonds and jewels. " Who is that prin- 
cess ?" he inquired. When he was told 
that she was only a tobacco manufacturer's 
wife he at once resolved to take charge of 
this means of acquiring wealth. 

In France, tobacco, being a Government 
monopoly, can be grown only by permis- 
sion. The cultivators have the choice of 
selling their crops to the Government or of 
exporting them. No Frenchman, other 
than an authorized cultivator, can have 
tobacco leaves in his possession, and no one 
can keep a stock of manufactured tobacco 
other than that supplied by the Govern- 
ment, and this stock cannot exceed twenty 



6 

pounds. Tobacco is now cultivated in 
twenty-two departments— the Nord, Pas- 
de-Calais, Ille-et-Vilaine, Gironde, Dor- 
dogne.Correz, Lot et-Garonne, Lot,Landes, 
Hautes-Pyrenees, Yaucluse, Bouches-du- 
Rhone, Var, Alpes-Maritimes, Isdre, Sa- 
voie, Haute-Savoie, Puy-de-D6me, Haute- 
Saone, Vosges, Meuse, Meurthe-et-Mo- 
selle. Tlie tobaccos grown in the Nord and 
the Pas-de-Calais are the most charged with 
nicotine. Those of the Lot and the Lot-et- 
Garonne are the best. There exist in France 
nineteen tobacco manufactories, of which 
two are at Paris. The ordinary caporal, 
or, as it is officially called, acaferlati to- 
bacco, is sold at $1.25 a pound, and the 
superior scaferlati at $1.60 a pound. This 
tobacco is put up in small packages of 
different colored paper. The monopoly 
yields the Government nearly $50,000,000 
annually. 

Tlie crop alluded to above represents the 
home production, but the government im- 
ports a great deal of tobacco in leaf and 
manufactures it in France. 

All the tobacco stores in France belong 
to the State. There are over 40,000 of 
them. The State does not sell tobacco at 
retail except in three stores ; the others are 
let to widows of officers, government offi- 
cials, and sometimes to the v/idows of Sen- 
ators, Deputies, and Prefects. They take 
the place of pensions. If the Government 
grants a pension to the wife of some man 



who has died in the service of his country, 
that generally means that she gets a tobacco 
store, or bureau, as it is called. As the 
social position of the pensioners will not 
allow them to run the bureaus directly, 
they let them. The dealer is allowed ten 
per cent, profit by the Government, and is 
prohibited from selling any tobacco except 
that supplied and priced by the State. 
Neither must they make cigarettes out of 
the Government tobacco. Every cigar- 
ette must bear the official stamp. 

There is a good story of an Englishman 
and a Frenchman who were travelling to- 
gether in a diligence, both smoking. Mon- 
sieur did all in his power to draw his 
phlegmatic fellow-passenger into conver- 
sation, but to no purpose. At last, with a 
superabundance of politeness he apolo- 
gized for drawing his attention to the fact 
that the ash of his cigar had fallen on his 
waistcoat and that a spark was endanger- 
ing his neckerchief. The Englishman, 
now thoroughly aroused, exclaimed, 
*' Why the devil can't you let me alone ? 
Your coat-tail has been on fire for the last 
ten minutes, but I didn't bother you about 
it!" 

The smoking of tobacco is of great antiq- 
uity among the Chinese because on their 
very old ornaments pictures can be seen 
of the same tobacco pipes now in use. Its 
very early use by this nation, however, is 
only a supposition, and against the theory is 



8 

the fact that the custom did not extend to 
neighboring nations as it did in other parts 
of Europe soon after the introduction of 
the weed from America. 

In China the use of tobacco is common 
to both sexes, to all the provinces, to the 
diverse classes of society, and to nearly all 
ages. Even young girls of eight and ten 
years smoke long pipes. Two kinds of 
the plant are cultivated in the country, the 
nicotiana sinensis and the nicotiana fruti- 
cosa. They grow in nearly all the prov- 
inces of the Celestial Empire, but the cul- 
tivation is generally made on a small scale. 
Each family grows in the garden that sur- 
rounds its house the plants necessary for 
its yearly consumption. However, three 
provinces are particularly favorable for 
the production, and they are about the 
only ones that furnish the three or four 
preferred brands which are sold in the 
various markets. These provinces are 
Che-kiang, Hoo-pe, and Quang-tong, where 
the tobacco is colored in four different 
shades, yellow, violet, black, and red. 
At Canton about ten qualities are sold, but 
only four of them are generally used. 
Among these tobaccos several have been 
dipped in a solution of opium. This 
plunging gives them a more reddish color 
and a slight opium taste. As for the Japan- 
ese, they are great smokers and cultivate a 
particular kind of tobacco, the nicotiana si- 
nensis, the leaves of which they cut into 



9 

exceedingly thin fibres. This tobacco, 
which is yellow and as fine as hair, is mild 
and of very agreeable flavor. The use of 
tobacco began at about the same epoch in 
China and Japan — that is, toward the year 
1574. The Arabs at Cairo smoke the best 
quality of tobacco ; sometimes they per- 
fume it with rose water and mix amber- 
scented pastilles with it in their chibouks. 
The smoke that they thus inhale is impreg- 
nated with agreeable odors. 

The use of tobacco among the American 
Indians was prevalent from ancient antiq- 
uity, the custom being to inhale it 
through the nostrils by means of a small 
hollow-forked cane, shaped like a pitch- 
fork, the single fork being placed in the fire 
and the shorter tubes up their nostrils. 
This instrument was called tohago, and 
from this term comes the word tobacco 
applied to the weed itself. At the time 
when Columbus discovered the New 
"World the habit of smoking was common 
in South America. An historian, writing 
of these times, says of the tobacco plant, 
"It is cdlledi petun by the Brazilians ; ta- 
paco by the Spaniards ; the leaves of 
which well dried they place in the open 
(widespread) part of a pipe, of which 
(being burned) the smoke is inhaled into 
the mouth by the more narrow part of the 
pipe, and so strongly that it flows out of 
the mouth and nostrils, and by that means 
drives out humors." When Cortez made 



10 

the conquest of Mexico, in 1519, smoking 
was an established custom among the peo- 
ple ; Montezuma would have his pipe 
brought to him with much ceremony by 
leading ladies of his court, indulging in 
the luxury after dinner and washing out 
his mouth with scented water. 

The early histories of the New World are 
full of curious and interesting allusions to 
the smoking habit. One of the members 
of the expedition of 1584, under the aus- 
pices of Sir Walter Raleigh, states that the 
Indians looked upon tobacco as a gift from 
the Great Spirit for their especial enjoy- 
ment. They burned it as a sacrifice, threw 
it into the air and water to quell a storm at 
sea, after an escape from danger they also 
threw some into the air. " We ourselves," 
says the first writer about Virginia, ' * during 
the time we were there used to suck it after 
their manner, as also since our returne, and 
have found many rare and wonderful ex- 
periments of the vertues thereof ; of which 
the relation would require a volume by 
itself e ; the use of it by so manie of late, men 
and women, of great calling as else, and 
some learned phisitions also, is suflacient 
witnes." Another author, after stating 
that the "salvages" call tobacco apooke, 
says: "The salvages here dry the leaves 
of this apooke over the fier, and sometimes 
in the sun, and crumble yt into poudre, 
stalks, leaves, and all, taking the same in 



11 

pipes of earth, which very ingeniously they 
can make." 

The use of tobacco among the Indians 
has been connected with their religious 
worship. Ko treaty can be ratified with- 
out smoking the pipe of peace. Wilson, in 
his Prehistoric man, says : " In the belief 
of the ancient worshipper, the Great Spirit 
smelled a sweet savour as the smoke of the 
sacred plant ascended to the Leavens ; and 
the homely implement of modern luxury 
was in their hands a sacred censor, from 
which the hallowed vapour rose with as fit- 
ting propitiatory odours as that which per- 
fumes the awful precincts of the cathedral 
altar, amid the mysteries of the church's 
high and holy days. " The Indian calumet, 
or pipe of peace, is a sacred pipe ornamented 
with the war eagle's quills. It is never al- 
lowed to be used on any other occasion than 
that of peace-making. When a treaty is 
made the chief brings it out, unfolds the 
many bandages which are carefully kept 
round it, and the pipe is passed to the dif- 
ferent chiefs, each one in turn taking only 
one breath of smoke through it. 

" From the red etone of the quarry, 
With his hand he broke a fragment, 
Moulded It into a pipe-head. 
Shaped and fashioned it with figures. 
From the margin of the river 
Took a long reed for a pipe-stem, 
With its dark, green leaves upon it ; 
Filled the pipe with bark of willow, 
With the bark of the red willow : 



12 

Breathed upon the neighboring forest, 
Made its great boughs chafe together, 
Till in flame they burst, and kindled ; 
And erect, upon the mountains, 
Gitche Manito the Mighty 
Smoked the calumet, the Peace pipe, 
As a signal to the nations." 

The seeds of the tobacco plant were first 
brought to Europe by Gonzalo Hernandez 
de Oviedo, who introduced it into Spain 
about 1560, where it was first cultivated as 
an ornamental plant, until another Span' 
iard claimed that it possessed medicinal 
virtues. It was introduced into Italy in 
1560. 

It has generally been claimed that Sir 
Walter Raleigh was the originator of smok- 
ing in England, and he certainly made 
the custom fashionable, but tobacco was 
really introduced into England by Mr. 
Ralph Lane, who was sent out by Raleigh 
as Governor of Virginia, and who returned 
to England in 1586. When Raleigh's ser- 
vant for the first time saw his master smoke, 
he drenched him with beer, thinking he had 
got afire ! 

The tobacco plant was known in Eng- 
land before this date • one writer claims it 
came into England in 1577, Taylor, the 
Water-poet, says 1565, and a Dutch author 
says 1576. To Raleigh, however, must be 
given the credit for introducing the habit 
of smoking. 

"While yet the world was young, the gods on high 
Bestowed the gift of wine upon the earth ; 



13 

The wide world rang with jocund minstrelsy, 

Ana Laughter shouting ushered in the birth. 
The boon was suited to the youth of man ; 

But as the weight of years upon him grew, 
And wise and sorrowful old age began, 

The gods consulted and devised anew. 
Then was fevealed the solace that should bless ; 

Gray-bearded Contemplation wore a smile ; 
Grief raised her hands in trembling thankfulness ; 

And all confessed they now might bear awhile. 
Said Zeus : ' Love, Wine and Learning, 'tis, but three; 
The race is dying— let Tobacco be.'" 

As already Stated, when the tobacco plant 
first became known it was supposed to 
possess almost miraculous healing powers, 
and was designated herba panacea, herba 
santa, sana sancta Indorum. 

The early Spanish physicians adminis- 
tered it to sick people by inhalation ; when 
the patient was thoroughly intoxicated by 
it, a cure was generally affected. 

Spenser called it "divine tobacco" and 
William Lilly called it "our holy herb 
nicotian." Their references show that the 
plant was used for wounds. Spenser says 
it was brought to heal Timais, "who all 
this while lay bleeding out his heart-blood 
neare. ' ' And Lilly says it was used to heal 
a lover whose hand had been wounded 
with a spear. " Robinson Crusoe" speaks 
of the Brazilians taking no physic, but using 
tobacco for almost all their distempers. 
Suffering from some ailment, he says he 
took a roll of tobacco from one of his 
chests. " I first took a piece of a leaf, and 
chewed it in my mouth, which, indeed, at 



14 

first almost stupefied my brain, the tobacco 
being green and strong, and I had not been 
much used to it ; then I took some and 
steeped it an hour or two in some rum, and 
resolved to take a dose of it when I lay 
down ; and lastly, I burnt some upon a pan 
of coals, and held my nose close over the 
smoke of it as long as I could bear it, as 
well for the heat as the virtue of it, and I 
held out almost to suffocation." 

He took a dose of the rum and tobacco, 
fell into a sound sleep and when he awoke 
he found himself ' ' exceedingly refreshed 
and his spirits " lively and cheerful." 

Whilst the great plague raged in London, 
tobacco was recommended by the faculty, 
and generally taken as a preventive against 
infection. It was popularly reported that 
no tobacconists or tlieir households were 
afflicted by the plague. Physicians who 
visited the sick took it very freely ; the men 
who went round with the dead carts had 
their pipes continually alight. This gave 
tobacco a new popularity, and it became 
a popular cure of the day. The school boys 
at Eton were obliged to smoke in the school 
every morning, and they were whipped if 
they did not. 

A doctor, in the time of James I., 
directed a patient who was suffering from 
an inflamed tooth to smoke without inter- 
mission until he had consumed an ounce 
of tobacco. The man was accustomed to 
smoke, and therefore took twenty-five pipes 



15 

at a sitting, wliich had i 
him. 

At the present day phyi 
ing tobacco in conjunctioc 
for poultices, the weed ha, vu - ^ »ox^ ^yj^.^ 
ing effect on inflammation, as the writer of 
this book can testify from his own experi- 
ence. Several cases are reported of persons 
being cured of poisoning by arsenic after 
having swallowed a quantity' of tobacco 
juice. 

The Indians of the forests ol the Orino- 
co smoke tobacco, not only to produce an 
afternoon nap, but also to induce a state of 
quiescence, which they call dreaming with 
the eyes open. 

Commodore Wilkes, in his '* Narra- 
tive of the United States Exploring 
Expedition," tells a tough yarn of how the 
tobacco habit once saved a man's life. He 
says a Feejee islander told him how he and 
his fellow-cannibals had captured a crew 
from a ship that had been driven on the 
coast. *' What did you do with the men ?" 
the Commodore inquired. ' ' We eat 'em — 
they good," said the Feejee, grinning. 
The Commodore felt a qualm, as he in- 
quired, faintly, "Did you eat them all?" 
*' Yes, we eat all but one." "And why did 
you spare that one ?" asked Wilkes. ' ' Be- 
cause he taste too much like tobacco ; 
couldn't eat him nohow." 

In the early days there were various 
severe edicts issued against the use of 



16 

.pes, Urban VIII. and 
Jminated against it the 
Church ; the priests and 
iey declared smoking a 
i^iiuiG, c»i^c saltan decreeing its punish- 
ment by the tnost cruel kinds of death ; 
the pipes of smokers were thrust through 
their noses in Turkey, and in Russia, 
in the seventeenth century, the noses of 
smokers we're cut off. In the Swiss 
canton of Berne smoking ranked in the 
table of offences next to adulterj'-. James 
I. of England issued Ms famous counter- 
blast against the weed. He called it the 
' ' lively image and pattern of hell, because it 
was a smoke. " His unwarrantable perse- 
cution of the tobacco plant led him to raise 
the importation duty from twopence per 
pound to the monstrous sum of 6s. lOd. 

Smoking had become so common in Eng- 
land in 1621 that one member of the House 
of Commons wanted tobacco banished out 
of the kingdom. He had been very much 
shocked to see ploughmen smoke as they 
were at their plough! Smoking was for- 
merly forbidden among schoolmasters. In 
the rules of a school at Chigwell, founded 
in 1629, it was declared that the master 
"must be a man of sound religion, neither 
Papist nor Puritan, of a grave behavior, 
and sober and honest conversation, no tip- 
pler or haunter of ale-houses, and no puffer 
of tobacco." 

It was not at first allowed to be smoked 



in ale-houses. Says an 
an innkeeper : " You . 
willingly suffer to be ui 
taken, any tobacco witi. 
cellar, orotber place, therei uto ocxv^j^xu^. " 
But the people knew what they wanted, 
and puffed smoke into the faces of their 
critics. Many a good sermon was preached 
by the weed. Here is one : 

" This Indian weed, now withered quite. 
Though green at noon, cut down at night. 

Shews thy decay. 

All flesh IS hay, 
Thus think, and smoke tobacco. 

" The pipe so lily white and weak. 
Doth thus thy mortal state bespeak, 

Thou art e'en such, 

Gone with a touch ! 
ThuB think, and smoke tobacco. 

" And when the smoke ascends on high. 
Then dost thou see the vanity 

Of worldly stuff 

Gone with a puff I 
Thus think, and smoke tobacco." 

" And when the pipe grows foul within, 
Think of thy soul begrimed with sin. 

For then the fire 

It does require I 
Thus think, and smoke tobacco. 

" And seest thou the ashes cast away. 
Then to thyself thou mayest say 

That to the dust 

Return thou murttl 
Thns think, and smoke tobacco.'* 



L 

IE Hottentots, the 
iFRicA AND Curious 
i>vEB. THE World— A 
Greenlande/^ Enjoys a Swallow of 
Nicotine — JNIoral Philosophers, Fa- 
mous POETSi AND GREAT LEADERS OF 

Men HAVTii been Lovers of the 
Weed — A Chronology of Tobacco 
FROM its Discovery to the Present 
Time — How Smoke Could be Made 
to Affect Legislation — Famous 
French Smokers— Smoking among 
Women. 

Toward the end of the sixteenth century 
tobacco penetrated by the Bosphorus to 
Ispahan and even to India. No one knows 
who first carried it to the true believers, 
but it is certain that the Mussulmans found 
in its fervent practice a foretaste of the 
delights promised by the prophet to every 
good servitor 'of Islam, and that tobacco 
mingled its aromas in all the Oriental 
pleasures. But the Mohammedans were 
more severe than the Christians against 
the crime of smoking. Amurat IV. even 
condemned smokers to death. In Persia 
the most rigorous penalties weVe decreed 
against all those wlio did not abominate 
the forbidden plant. All these persecutions 
did not prevent the Orientals from becom- 
ing as enthusiastic over tlie weed as were 
the Europeans. In fact, the passion of the 



19 

Orientals for tobacco is beyond all expres- 
sion, its use, like that of perfumes, is uni- 
versal. In all classes men, women and 
children smoke without distinction, not 
only after meals, but at all hours. The 
poorest person in that happy country 
always rinds tobacco enough to fill his pipe 
and indulge in a hief. Without being lazy, 
the Turk does not like to hurry. " Haste 
comes from the devil and patience from 
God," he says. 

In Persia tobacco grows easily and al- 
most everywhere. It is a real dead leaf 
when it is dried, and is not so strong as 
ours. But the Persians prefer it so that 
they can smoke it all day long. For this 
purpose they crumble the tobacco very fine 
and wet it a little in order not to have it 
burn too quickly. The excessive use of 
this plant dries up the Persians and weak- 
ens them. They admit this fact, but when 
asked why they do not quit the habit, 
reply : '* There is no joy for the heart ex- 
cept by tobacco." 

There are three principal kinds of tobac- 
co in the Orient, but the quality is variable. 
At Constantinople the dealers sell smoking 
tobacco cut very fine in long, silky bunches 
of blond color. lavach is the name for tho 
mild quality ; orta designates the average 
strength ; tokan aklen the sharp tasting, 
and sert the very strong. The Levant 
tobacco is the most sought after, it being 
very mild. It is of a yellowish green 



20 

color, breaks easily, and burns to the end 
with white ashes. There is also a Levant 
tobacco called karasson, or black tobacco, 
which is perfumed, but very strong. The 
mildest kind is the siiltanieh. The tomhaki, 
a tobacco cultivated in the south of Persia, 
and especially at Schiraz, is rather a sort 
of illusive preparation than tobacco prop- 
erly called. It is composed of tobacco, 
pieces of sandalwood or aloes wood, rose 
leaves, haschisch, and opium. In the 
bazaar at Teheran, the alley where the to- 
bacco dealers congregate is impregnated 
with the strong aroma that escapes from 
the goatskin sacks containing the tombaki, 
so strong that it can be inhaled only after 
being softened in water mixed with essence 
of roses. 

Tobacco is to-day one of the principal 
products of Hindoostan, where it was intro- 
duced by the Europeans somewhere be- 
tween 1555 and 1627. A great quantity is 
consumed in India, and very good quality 
is grown in several provinces, particularly 
in Guzerat, where the zerd, as it is called 
on account of its yellow color, is highly 
appreciated. The leaf is small, and has a 
balsamic perfume and a gentle taste, while 
its smoke spreads an agreeable violet per- 
fume. The Hindoos mix sugar, nutmegs, 
and bananas with their tobacco ; they 
pound these materials in a mortar and add 
thereto rose water. This is the tobacco 
that they smoke in their pipes. A very 



21 

high quality of the plant is also cultivated 
in Malwah. 

The Negritos, in Luzon (one of the Phil- 
ippines), scarcely ever stop smoking cigars, 
putting the lighted end in their mouths. 
The Hottentots barter their wives for to- 
bacco, and when they cannot obtain it, fill 
their pipes with a substitute of dried dirt. 
In the snowy regions of the Himalaya, tiny 
smoking tunnels are made in the frozen 
snow, at one end of which is placed some 
tobacco, along with a piece of burning 
charcoal, while to the other end the moun- 
taineers place their mouths, and lying on 
their stomachs, inhale the smoke of the 
glowing weed. The Patagonian lights a 
pipe, throws himself down with his face 
toward the ground, and swallows several 
mouthfuls of smoke in a manner which 
produces a kind of intoxication lasting for 
several minutes. The inhabitants of the 
Cook peninsula, in Australia, are passion- 
ate smokers. Their pipe — a i)amboo three 
and a half feet long and four inches in di- 
ameter — passes round the company after 
one of the persons present has filled it with 
smoke from a tube. The Wadschidschi, 
dwelling by the banks of the Tanganyika 
Lake, neither chew nor snuff nor smoke 
their tobacco, but carrying it in a small 
vessel, the savage pours water upon it, and 
presses out the juice, with which he con- 
trives to fill both nostrils, keeping it there 
by means of wooden pegs. The Kafllrs, 



23 

who cannot get snuff as fine and as pungent 
as they wish, rub the already prepared 
mass between stones, and mix it with a 
kind of pepper and some ashes. The 
blacks in Dschesire mix their tobacco with 
water and natron, so as to form a kind of 
pap which they call bucka. They take a 
mouthful and roll it about for a time with 
their tongue. There are regular bucka 
parties given. In Paraguay it is chiefly 
the women who chew ; and travellers have 
often described their emotions when on en- 
tering a house, a lady dressed in satin, and 
adorned with precious stones, comes toward 
them, and, before holding out her mouth 
to be kissed, as the usual welcome, pulls 
the beloved tobacco quid from her cheek 
pouch. Some South American tribes eat 
the tobacco cut into small pieces. Finally, 
there is a traveller's story told of certain 
Esquimaux tribes that, if true, is not a 
little remarkable. When a stranger arrives 
in Greenland, it is said that he finds him- 
self immediately surrounded by a multitude 
of natives, who ask his permission to drink 
the oil which remains in the stem of his 
pipe. And it is stated that the Greenland- 
ers smoke for no other purpose than to en- 
joy afterward the swallowing of that acrid 
and poisonous matter which is so disagree- 
able to us. 

In Nicaragua, the dress of the urchins, 
from twelve or fourteen downward, con- 
sists generally of a straw hat and a cigar, 



23 

a costume which is airy, picturesque and 
cheap. 

The following table will show, at a glance, 
some of the most remarkable events in the 
history of the weed • 



CHRONOLOGY OF TOBACCO. 

A.D. 

1496. Romanus Paine published the first 
account of tobacco, under the name 
Cohoha. 

1519. Tobacco discovered by the Spaniards 
near Tabasco. 

1535. Negroes cultivated it on the planta- 
tions of their masters. 

1535. It was used at this time in Canada. 

1559. Tobacco introduced into Europe. 

1570. Tobacco smoked in Holland out of 
tubes of palm -leaves. 

1585. Clay pipes noticed by the English ia 
Virginia. 

1585. First clay pipes made in Europe. 

1599. Tobacco prohibited in Persian Em- 
pire. 

1601. Tobacco introduced into Java. 
Smoking commenced in Egypt about 
this time. s 

1604. James I. laid heavy imports on to- 
bacco. 

1615. Tobacco first grown in Holland. 

1616. The colonists cultivated tobacco in 
Virginia. 



24 

1619. James I. wrote his " Counterblast." 

1620. Ninety young women sent from 
England to America, and sold to the 
planters for tobacco at 120 pounds 
each. 

1624. The Pope excommunicated all who 

should take snuff in church. 
1634. A tribunal formed at Moscow to 

punish smoking. 
1653. Smoking commenced in Switzerland. 
1669. Adultery and fornication punished 

in Virginia by a fine of 500 to 1000 

pounds of tobacco. 
1689. Tubes containing pieces of sponge 

invented for smoking tobacco. 
1691. Pope Innocent XII. excommunicated 

all who used tobacco in St. Peter's 

Church at Rome. 
1724, Pope Benedict XIV. revoked Pope 

Innocent's bull of excommunication. 
1733. Tobacco made a legal tender in 

Maryland at one penny per pound. 
1789. King of France derived an income 

of $7,500,000 from tobacco. 
1789. Exports of tobacco from the United 

States, 90,000,000 pounds. 
1828. Tobacco revenue in the State of 

Maryland, $27,000. 
1830. Revenue from tobacco and snuff in 

Great Britain, $12,000,000. 
1834. Value of tobacco used in the United 

States estimated at $15,000,000. 
1889. Value of tobacco product in the 

United States, $43,666,665. 



25 

Among the famous men who have drawn 
inspiration and consolation from the pipe 
were Milton, who had his pipe and a glass 
of water just before he retired for the night. 
Philosophers have drawn their best similes 
from their pipes. How could they have 
done so, had their pipes first been drawn 
from them ? We see the smoke go upward 
— we think of life ; we see the smoke- 
wreath fade away — we remember the morn- 
ing cloud. Our x)ipe breaks — we mourn 
the fragility of earthly pleasures. We 
smoke it to an end, and tapping out the 
ashes remember that "Dust we are, and 
unto dust we shall return," If we are in 
love, we garnish a whole sonnet with 
images drawn from smoking, and first fill 
our pipe, and then tune it. That spark 
kindles like her eye, is ruddy as her lips ; 
this slender clay, as white as her hand, and 
slim as her waist ; till her raven hair grows 
gray as these ashes, I will love her. This 
perfume is not sweeter than her breath, 
though sweeter than all else. The odor 
ascends into the brain, fills it full of all 
fiery, delectable shapes, which delivered 
over to the tongue become delectable wit. 

Paley, the moral philosopher, was an ex- 
cellent companion. On a cold winter's 
night he would stir the fire and fill a long 
Dutch pipe. He formally declined any 
punch, but nevertheless drank it up as fast 
as his glass was replenished ; in fact, he 
would smoke any given quantity of tobac- 



CO, and drink any given quantity of punch. 
Dr. Parr's particular fondness for smoking 
was so well known that wherever he dined, 
he was always indulged with a pipe. Even 
George IV. provided him with a smoking- 
room, saying, " I don't like to be smoked 
myself, doctor, but I am anxious that your 
pipe shall not be put out." When a cer- 
tain lady absolutely refused him permission 
to smoke in her parlors he was very wroth, 
but contented himself with calling her 
" the greatest tobacco-stopper in all Eng- 
land." 

Blucher, the famous military leader, had 
a servant or pipe-master named Henne- 
mann. At the battle of Waterloo the pipe- 
master had just handed a pipe to his master 
when a cannon-ball caused Bliicher's horse 
to spring aside and the pipe was broken 
before the old hero had a chance to take a 
single puff. "Fill another pipe for me," 
said Blucher, " and keep it lighted until I 
come back in a moment, after driving away 
the French rascals." The chase lasted not 
only a moment, but a whole hot day ; then 
Bliicher met Wellington, who asked him 
about his previous position. Blucher went 
to the spot where he had halted in the 
morning. There stood a man with his head 
bound up and his arm wrapped in a hand- 
kerchief. He was smoking a long and 
dazzlingly white clay pipe. " Good God," 
exclaimed Blucher, "that is my servant, 
Christian Hennemann. What a strange 



27 

look you have, man I What are you doing 
here?" " Have you come at last ?" answered 
Christian, in a grumbling tone ; ' * here I 
have stood the whole day, waiting for you. 
One pipe after another has been shot away 
from my mouth by the accursed French. 
Once even a blue bean [bullet] made sad 
work with my head, and my fist has got a 
deuce of a smashing. That is the last whole 
pipe, and it is a good thing that the firing 
has stopped ; otherwise the French would 
have knocked this pipe to pieces, and 
you must have stood here with a dry 
mouth." 

An art critic has observed that the dif- 
ference between two great French painters, 
Decamps and Horace Vernet, was due to 
their habits as users of tobacco. The French 
Murillo, the wonderful colorist, Decamps, 
smoked a pipe ; Yernet toyed with the 
cigarette. 

A lady expressed surprise at seeing Gui- 
zot smoking. "What !" she exclaimed, 
" you smoke, and yet have arrived at so 
great an age ?" ' 'Ah ! madame, " replied the 
venerable statesman, " if I had not smoked, 
1 should have been dead ten years ago." 

Victor Hugo was a veteran smoker. 
Buckle, the ^reat historian of civilization, 
found it so imperious a necessity to have 
his three cigars every day, that he said he 
could neither read, write, nor talk if com- 
pelled to forego, or even to miss the usual 
hour for indulging in them. A traveller, 



28 

who once met him in the East, found him 
smoking Latakia out of a large red-clay 
pipe with an extremely long cherry stalk, 
and drinking coffee, a la turgue, with 
evident satisfaction. 

It is significantly stated that Richard 
Fletcher, a courtly Bishop of London 
(1596), by the use of tobacco, "smothered 
the cares he took by means of his un- 
lucky marriage." 

Raleigh smoked in his dungeon in the 
Tower, while the headsman was grinding 
his axe. Cromwell loved his pipe and 
dictated his despatches to Milton over 
sweet-smelling nicotine. Robert Hall smok- 
ed in his vestry. 

Carlyle has said that tobacco smoke is 
good, because it allows men to sit silent 
together without embarrassment. When 
a man has said what he has got to say he 
can hold his peace and take to his pipe. 
He says that such a practice could be 
wisely introduced into Parliaments, where 
there should be a minimum of speech and 
the soothing and clarifying influence of 
tobacco smoke. 

This idea seems to have been previously 
acted upon by Frederick "William I., King 
of Prussia, who founded the Tabaks-Col- 
legium, which was a sort of smoking Parlia- 
ment, where grave political discussions 
were carried on by the members as they 
puffed at their clay pipes. This smoking 
room was supplied with plenty of pipes and 



tobacco, and refreshments, consisting of 
beer, cold bread and beef. 

If a certain anecdote is true, tobacco 
seems to Jiave had its influence on the 
speech of the great Carlyle himself. There 
is a legend to the effect that on the one 
evening passed at Craigenputtock by 
Emerson, in 1833, Carlyle gave him a pipe, 
and, taking one himself, the two sat silent 
till midnight, and then parted, shaking 
hands, with congratulations on the profit- 
able and pleasant evening they had en- 
joyed. 

Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, is a great 
smoker, and does not affect Havana in any 
of its various forms. His joy is in a pipe of 
genuine Virginia tobacco. He prefers a 
pipe, the common clay pipe being his 
choice. He has a great many kinds of 
pipes, mostly presents from admirers and 
friends. When smoking with his friends, 
in his den, which is at the top of the house, 
he sits with a box full of clay pipes at his 
feet. Filling one of these, he smokes until 
it is empty, breaks it in twain, and throws 
the fragments into another box prepared 
for their reception. Then he pulls another 
pipe from its straw or wooden enclosure, 
fills it, lights it, and destroys it as before. 
He will not smoke a pipe a second time. 
James Payn smokes constantly, using a 
pipe and Latakia tobacco. The doctors 
once told him that the use of such tobacco 
would kill the strongest man in the world. 



30 

but he has been smoking it for a quarter of 
a century with impunity. 

Among French authors Zola has said 
that he does not believe the intelligence and 
creative strength of man are injured by 
smoking. Francois Coppee smokes ciga- 
rettes all day, but throws each one away 
after a few puffs. H. Taine smokes ciga- 
rettes, considering the habit a pastime in 
moments of thoughtlessness and intellect- 
ual waiting. Andrew Theniret once said 
that he was not a member of the French 
anti-tobacco league because he was passion- 
ately fond of smoking. This was in an- 
swer to a question from the league concern- 
ing the effects of smoking on the mind and 
body. ' ' Two years ago, " he wrote in reply, 
" your president asked me to write a story 
about the acute sufferings of the young 
smoker. I did it. After publishing the 
story I received a silver medal from your 
league. That is all I ever had to do with 
the enemies of tobacco." 

The daughters of Louis XIV. of France 
imitated some English ladies of the period, 
and indulged in a pipe. They were in the 
habit of indulging in a sort of orgie in their 
own apartments after supper, and one 
evening were found in the act of drinking 
brandy and smoking pipes, w^hich they had 
borrowed from the officers of the Swiss 
Guard. The present Empress of Austria, 
having little taste for reading, loves, when 
at home, to loll back in an easy-chair or 



31 

lie on a sofa and puff cigarettes. She hates 
brilliant assemblies, and loves to talk with 
a congenial companion on equestrian sub- 
jects, being very fond of horses. 

About the year 1700 **Tom Brown," an 
anonymous wit of the day, wrote this pe- 
culiar letter to an imaginary ancient dame 
who smoked tobacco : ' ' Though the ill-na- 
tured world censures you for smoking, yet 
would I advise you, madam, not to part 
with so innocent a diversion. In the first 
place, it is healthful; and, as Galen rightly 
observes, is a sovereign remedy for the 
toothache, the constant persecutor of old 
ladies. Secondly, tobacco, though it be a 
heathenish word, is a great help to Christian 
meditations,jWhich is the reason, I suppose, 
that recommends it your parsons, the gen- 
erality of whom can no more write a ser- 
mon without a pipe in their mouths, than a 
Concordance in their hands; besides, every 
pipe you break may serve to put you in 
mind upon what slender accidents man's life 
depends. I knew a dissenting minister 
who, on fast days, used to mortify upon a 
rump of beef, because it put him, as he 
said, in mind that all flesh was grass ; but 
I am siire much more is to be learnt from 
tobacco. It may instruct you that riches, 
beauty, and all the glories of the world, 
vanish like a vapor. Thirdly, it is a pretty 
plaything. Fourthly, and lastly, it is fash- 
ionable—at least, 'tis in a fair way of be- 
coming so." 



32 

When snuff came into use it found favor 
with the fair sex. One English dame had 
for her maxim: 

" She that with pure tobacco will not prime 
Her nose, can be no lady of the time." 

In Havana a small and very fine kind of 
cigars are made for the use of ladies, and 
are called " Queens." Women there smoke 
as freely as men, and in a full railroad car, 
every person, man, woman, and child, may 
be seen smoking. To put up a sign, " No 
smoking," and enforce the rule would ruin 
the road. 

At Manilla about 12,000 women are em- 
ployed in the cigar manufactories. Paper 
cigarettes are chiefly smoked by the men ; 
the women prefer the largest cigars they 
can get. The women of Johore are often 
seen seated together weaving mats, and 
each with a cigar in her mouth. 

The wife of General Jackson, seventh 
President of the United States, was an ex- 
emplary woman in all the relations of life, 
but, in the homely fashion of the time, she 
used to join her husband and guests in 
smoking a pipe after dinner and in the 
evening. 

The enemies of the weed say that tobacco 
is a poison because animals will not use it. 
A Berlin professor, an artist, however, who 
has lately experimented in the Zoological 
Gardens, declares that common brown 
bears are genuine enthusiasts for tobacco* 



** When I puff my cigar smoke into their 
cage, " he remarks, ' ' they rush to the front, 
rubbing their noses and backs against the 
bars through which the smoke has pene- 
trated." The professor, with some temer- 
ity, once experimented on the lion. The 
creature was asleep, and this was the 
moment selected for puffing a volume of 
tobacco smoke in his face. Did he at once 
wake up with a savage growl, lash his tail, 
and, springing at the bars, shake the mas- 
sive iron ? Not at all. He awoke and 
"stood on his legs," which seems a natural 
enough attitude to adopt, and "sneezed 
powerfully." Then he quietly laid down 
on his side and " elevated his nose, as if 
asking for a second dose." It may be news 
to some naturalists to hear that goats, stags, 
and llamas all devour tobacco and cigars 
with remarkable satisfaction. It is cer- 
tainly somewhat of a waste of the material 
to let a prime Havana be ' ' bolted" in one 
gulp by an antelope ; but the professor was 
actuated by a praiseworthy desire to dis- 
cover scientific facts, and also by a wish to 
get on good terms with creatures whom it 
was his business to sketch. ** I made a 
personal friend," he writes, " of an exceed- 
ingly malicious guanaco, or wild llama, by 
simply feeding him again and again with 
tobacco. 

** Brother Gray, " said one clergyman to 
another, " is it possible you smoke tobacco ? 
Pray give up the unseemly practice. It is 



34 

alike unclerical and uncleanly. Totacco 1 
Why, ray dear brother, even a pig would 
not smoke so vile a weed." Brother Gray 
delivered a mild outpouring of tobacco 
fumes, and then as mildly said, "I suppose, 
Brother Curtis, you don't smoke ?" " No, 
indeed," exclaimed his friend, with virtu- 
ous horror. Another puff or two, and then 
Brother Gray, who prefers the Socratic 
method of argument, rejoined, " Then, 
dear brother, which is more like the pig, 
you or I ?" 



35 

III. 

The " Faiby Pipes" or Ieeland — Queeb 
Pipes used by the Russians, Gebmans, 
Feench, Chinese, Japanese, Natives op 
South Apbica, etc. — How English Chel- 
DBEN Smoked on theib Way to School — 
"Kemble Pipes" — Musical Pipes— The 
Pipe-Smokee is a Philosophee — Famous 
Pipe-Smokees. 

Of tlie different kinds of pipes there 
were the " fairy pipes" of Ireland; they 
were small and did not hold quite as 
much tobacco as our modern meerschaums. 
The Irish peasantry believed them to have 
been of fairy-demon origin ; when found 
they would be at once broken as a 
kind of retort to some mischievous 
trick which their supposed owners had 
played. Pipes were first regularly man- 
ufactured in England in 1619. The pipe 
became an object of much inventive inge- 
nuity, and it varied as greatly in material 
as in form — wood, horn, bone, ivory, pre- 
cious stone, valuable metals, amber, glass, 
porcelain, and, above all, clay being the 
materials employed in various forms. By 
degrees, pipes of special form and material 
came to be associated with particular 
people, so that now we have the elongated 
painted porcelain bowls and pendulous 
stem of the German peasantry, the red 
clay bowl and long cherry-wood stem of 



36 

the Turk, and the very small metallic bowl 
and cane stem of the Japanese. 

The Dutch borrowed the art of pipe- 
making from the English in 1748. A 
Dutchman visiting England in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth, was surprised to see the 
English " draw the smoke into their mouths 
(through pipes made of clay), which 
they puff out again through their nostrils, 
like funnels." During the reign of the 
Great Plague (1644 and 1666) there was a 
great deal of smoking to ward off the dis- 
ease, and a large number of pipes have 
been discovered in and about London be- 
longing to this era. Some of the early 
pipes were made of silver, but the ordinary 
sort were made from a walnut shell and a 
straw. Clay pipes soon became cheap and 
common and were passed from man to 
man round the table. The Dutch loved 
their mahogany pipes so much that they 
carried them in ornamented wooden cases, 
which were sometimes inlaid with brass, 
on which was engraved some proverb or 
scriptural motto. On the pipe-case of tl o 
famous Admiral Yan Tromp was this in 
scription : ' ' When a man has the right way 
taken, death has no fears for him." 

The best French pipes are made of por- 
celain, and some are adorned with, enam- 
elled portraits and beautiful heads. Others 
are made of various kinds of earth, or 
earthy compounds, compressed in moulds 
by the potter, and afterwards cut in deeper 



37 

relief by hand. Some are made of rare 
kinds of wood and lined with clay, and 
others are fashioned in elegant shapes from 
masses of agate, amber, crystal, carnelian 
and ivory, as well as the various kinds of 
pure or mixed metals. The handsomest 
pipes of French manufacture are bought 
by foreigners, most Frenchmen contenting 
themselves with the ordinary pipe of soft 
porous clay. The pipe commonly in use 
among the Russians is made of wood, 
tipped with red copper, and lined with a 
thin sheet of tin, rudely nicked and turned 
over at the rim. The stem is of dogwood, 
and is tied to the pipe by a rough thong of 
leather, to which is affixed a pick, made 
of copper wire, to clear out the pipe when 
necessary. 

The Germans long used a beautiful pipe, 
carved by the herdsmen and peasants of 
the Black Forest from the close-grained 
and gnarled root of the dwarf -oak. This 
wood is hard enough to resist the action 
of hre, becoming but slightly charred by 
years of use. The carvings represented 
boar hunts, encounters with wolves, jowl- 
ing, and the exploits of robbers. The or- 
dinary German pipe of porcelain consists 
of a double bowl, the upper one contain- 
ing the tobacco, which fits into a spout or 
socket, and allows the oil to drain into 
the lower bowl, which is generally held 
in the hand of the smoker ; the tube 
of wood, usually formed of cherry-tree, 



38 

is easily moved, by wliich it may be 
cleaned. 

The pipe of the Egyptians is usually 
between four and five feet long : some 
pipes are shorter, and some are of greater 
length. The common kind are made of 
wood, and the greater part of the stick, 
from the mouthpiece to about three-quar- 
ters of its length, is covered with silk, 
confined at each end by gold thread, or by a 
tube of gilt silver. The covering was origi- 
nally designed to be moistened with water, 
in order to cool the pipe, and consequently 
the smoke by evaporation. In smoking, 
the people of Egypt and other countries 
of the East, draw in their breath freely, 
so that much of the smoke descends into 
the lungs. The terms which they use to 
express " smoking tobacco" signify " drink- 
ing smoke," or " drinking tobacco." 

The natives of South Africa ceremoni- 
ously smoke a daghapipe, made out of bul- 
lock's horn, and use a species of hemp in- 
stead of tobacco. Each individual receives 
the pipe in turn, opens his jaws to their 
full extent, and placing his lips to the wide 
mouth of the horn, takes a few pulls and 
passes it on. 

The pipe used by the Chinese has a 
straight stem from three to five feet in 
length. To the stem of the pipe is some- 
times attached tassels and silken pendent 
ornaments. The stem is usually made of 
bamboo. Both men and women smoke. 



89 

and pipe-sellers walk through the streets, 
plying their trade. One kind of Chinese 
pipe is made of brass and constructed on 
the principle of the hookah, with a large 
trumpet-shaped receptacle filled with water, 
and a cup for tobacco. The pipe is pro- 
vided with a base to stand upon the table, and 
the smoke is drawn through water. Only a 
few whiffs are taken at a time, the tobacco 
used being cut into very fine shreds. 
Japanese pipes are often made of silver, 
inlaid with flowers and insects in enamelled 
copper. The central portion is formed of 
cane, for convenience of holding. 

The most luxurious and elaborate form 
of pipe is the Persian kalydn, hookah, or 
water-tobacco pipe. This consists of three 
pieces, the head or bowl, the water-bottle 
or base, and the snake, or long flexible 
tube ending in the mouth. The tobacco, 
which must be previously prepared by 
steeping in water, is placed in the head 
and lighted with live charcoal, a wooden 
stem passes from the bottom down into the 
water which fills the base, and the tube is 
fitted to a stem which ends in the bottle 
above the water. Thus the smoke is 
cooled and washed before it reaches the 
smoker by passing through the water in 
the bottle and by being drawn through the 
coil of tube, frequently some yards in 
length. The bottles are, in many cases, 
made of carved and otherwise ornamented 
cocoa-nut shells, whence the apparatus 



40 

is called nargila, from nargil, a cocoa-nut. 
Silver, stone, damascened steel and pre- 
cious stones are freely used in the making 
and decoration of these pipes for wealthy 
smokers. 

"We are so accustomed to hearing about 
the ill effects of smoking on the young 
that it seems strange to read that in Eng- 
land, in the seventeenth century, children 
going to school carried with their books a 
pipe of tobacco, which their mothers took 
care to fill early in the morning. At a 
certain time in school every one laid aside 
his book to light his pipe, the master 
smoking with them, and teaching them 
how to hold their pipes and draw in the 
tobacco, thus getting them used to the 
weed from their youth as a practice abso- 
lutely necessary for a man's health. 

What was once known as the Eemble 
pipe has a curious history. Those pipes de- 
rived their name from a poor Koman Cath- 
olic priest who was executed in 1679, he 
having been implicated in the plot of Titus 
Gates. While marching to the scaffold he 
smoked a pipe of tobacco. In memory of 
this, the people of Herefordshire to this 
day call the last pipe they take at a sitting, 
a Kemble pipe. 

George Augustus Sala, some years ago in 
" Household Words," lamented the disap- 
pearance of the old church-warden pipe, or 
" yard of clay." He said there were a host 
of inventions for emitting the fumes of to- 



41 

bacco and that English gentlemen had got / 
in the habit of smoking ' ' black abomina- / 
tions, like Irish apple-women." 

" Little tube of mighty power, 
Charmer of an idle hour, 
Object of my warm desire, 
Lip of wax and eye of fire ; 
And thy snowy taper waist, 
With my finger gently braced ; 
And thy pretty swelling crest, 
With my little stopper pressed ; 
And the sweetest bliss of blisses, 
Breathing from thy balmy kisses, 
Happy thrice, and thrice again. 
Happiest he of happy men, 
Who, when again the night returns, 
When again the taper biirns, 
When again the crickets gay 
(Little cricket, full of play), 
Can afford his tube to feed 
With the fragrant Indian weed ; 
Pleasure for a nose divine, 
Incense of the god of wine, 
Happy thrice and thrice again. 
Happiest he of happy men," 

Tobacco-pipes have contributed to amuse 
non-smokers by being subservient to in- 
genious tricks. An English tavern-keeper 
amused his company with whistling of 
different tunes ; he took up, a pair of clean 
tobacco-pipes, and after having slid the 
small ends of them over a table in a most 
melodious trill, he fetched a tune out of 
them, whistling to them at the same time 
in concert. The virtuoso confessed ingen- 
uously, that he broke such quantities of 
pipes that he almost broke himself, before 
he brought this piece of music to any tol- 



42 

erable perfection. Balancing tobacco-pipes 
was a novel feat introduced for London's 
amusement. In 1743 a fire-eater, in one of 
his advertisements, notes among his other 
performances, that he " licks with his naked 
tongue red-hot tobacco-pipes flaming with 
brimstone." 

There seems to be a close connection be- 
tween pipe-smoking and the philosophical 
habit. Captain Marryat says in ' ' Jacob 
Faithful :" /'It is no less strange than true 
that we can puff away our cares with to- 
bacco, when, without it, they remain an 
oppressive burden to existence. There is 
no composing draught like the draught 
through the tube of a pipe. The savage 
warriors of North America enjoyed the 
blessing before we did ; and to the pipe 
is to be ascribed the wisdom of their coun- 
cils, and the laconic delivery of their sen- 
timents." 

And "Sam Slick, the Clock-maker," 
says: "The fact is, the moment a man 
takes to the pipe he becomes a philosopher. 
It's the poor man's friend ; it calms the 
mind, soothes the temper, and makes a man 
patient under diflQculties. It has made 
more good men, good husbands, kind mas- 
ters, indulgent fathers, than any other 
blessed thing on this universal earth." 

" Sweet smoking pipe ; bright glowing stove, 
Companion still of my retreat, 
Thou doet my gloomy thoughts remove, 
And pinge my brain with gentle heat. 



" Tobacco, charmer of my mind, 
When, like the meteor's transient gleam, 
Thy substance, gone to air, I find 
I think, alas 1 my life's the same. 

" What else but lighted dust am I ? 
Thou shovv'st me what my fate will be ; 
And when thy sinking ashes die, 
I learn that I must end like thee." 

Wheii Lord Brougham was in the zenith 
of his fame he was fond of smoking. He 
would smoke a pipe after his labors in the 
court room, another one after speaking in 
the House of Commons, and another before 
going to bed. Lord Clarendon, England's 
Foreign Secretary, always smoked when 
attending to his official business, and the 
Foreign Office, while he was there, was 
always pervaded with a strong aroma 
of cigars. His despatches were generally 
written between midnight and daybreak, 
and during this time a cigar or cigarette 
scarcely ever left his lips. He never felt 
at ease at a diplomatic conference until 
cigars were introduced, and this remark is 
attributed to him : " Diplomacy is entirely 
a question of tlie weed. I can always 
settle a quarrel if I know beforehand 
whether the plenipotentiary smokes Cav- 
endish, Latakia or Shag. Tobacco is the 
key to diplomacy." 

Sir Isaac Newton, the great natural 
philosopher, was a prince among smokers. 
Some modern reformers say that tobacco 
injures the teeth. Mcwton exposed this 



44 

fallacy, for he lived to a good old age and 
never lost but a single tooth. It is re- 
corded of hira that on one occasion, in a 
fit of mental abstraction, he used the 
finger of the lady he was courting as a 
tobacco stopper, as he sat and smoked in 
silence beside her ! Professor Huxley, the 
modern philosopher, hated tobacco when a 
young man, but is now a lover of the weed. 
He says that smoking in moderation is a 
comfortable and laudable practice, and is 
productive of good. "There is no more 
harm," he says, " in a pipe, than there is in 
a cup of tea. You may poison yourself 
by drinking too much green tea, and kill 
yourself by eating too many beefsteaks. 
For my own part, I consider that tobacco, 
in moderation, is a sweetener and equal- 
izer of the temper." 

Charles Lamb confessed that he had 
been " a fierce smoker of tobacco." When 
he decided to give up smoking he com- 
pared himself to "a volcano burned out 
and emitting only now and then a casual 
puff." He called tobacco his "loving 
foe," his "friendly traitress," the "great 
plant," and attributed to it his chronic 
indisposition, which Carlyle says was 
really caused by his "insuperable pro- 
clivity to gin." 

One day Lamb was puffing away at the 
strongest and coarsest preparation of the 
weed in company with Dr. Parr, who could 
only smoke the finest sorts of tobacco. 



45 

Parr asked Lamb how he had acquired 
such ''prodigious power" as a smoker. 
"I toiled after it," replied the humorist, 
with his habitual stutter, "as some men 
t — t — toil after virtue," He once expressed 
a wish to John Forster that his last breath 
might be drawn through a pipe and exhaled 
in a pun. This reminds one of the French 
artist, Gavarni, who on his death-bed is 
reported to have said to a friend: "Heave 
you my wife and my pipe ; take care 
of my pipe." 

Charles Kingsley, when he was too ex- 
cited to write any more on the book he had 
in hand, would calm himself down with a 
pipe. He always used a long and clean 
" church- warden" pipe, and these pipes used 
to be bought a barrelful at a time ; when 
there was a vast accumulation of old pipes, 
enough to fill the barrel, they were sent 
back again to the kiln to be rebaked, and 
returned fresh and new. This gave the 
novelist a striking simile ; in " Alton 
Locke " he puts these words into the mouth 
of James Crossthwaite : "Katie here be- 
lieves in purgatory, where souls are burned 
clean again, like 'bacca pipe." Speaking 
of tobacco, another character in "West- 
ward Ho" says: "The Indians always 
carry it with them on their war-parties ; 
and no wonder, for when all things were 
made, none was made better than this, to 
be a lone man's companion, a bachelor's 
friend, a hungry man's food, a sad man's 



46 

cordial, a wakeful man's sleep, and a 
chilly man's lire, sir ; while for stanching 
of wounds, purging of rheum, and set- 
tling of the stomach, there's no herb like 
unto it under the canopy of heaven. 

" All dainty meats I do despise, 
Which feed men fat as swine ; 
He is a frugal man indeed, 
That on a leaf can dine. 

" He needs no napkin for his hands 
His fingers' ends to wipe, 
That keeps his kitchen in a box, 
And roast meat in a pipe." 

Thackeray always began writing with a 
cigar in his mouth and was a real devotee 
of tobacco. A lady relates how, when a 
young man, he was in Paris studying to 
be a painter, he would dash into the room 
where she was sitting, and say, "Polly, 
lend me a franc for cigars." When dictat- 
ing he would often light a cigar, and after 
pacing the room for a few minutes would 
put the unsmoked remnant on the mantel- 
piece, and resume his work with increased 
cheerfulness, as if he had gathered fresh 
inspiration from the gentle odors of " sub- 
lime tobacco." Dickens was a smoker, and 
we catch a glimpse of him smoking a fare- 
well cigar with Thackeray at Boulogne. 
There they conversed about a certain titled 
lady, a singular character, who had made 
Dickens smoke with her some cigars made 
of negro-head, powerful enough, accord- 



47 

ing to his account, to ' * quell an elephant 
in six whiHs." 

Clergymen have always been noted for 
their love of the weed. Richard Fletcher, 
Bishop of London in the time of Elizabeth, 
was the first Episcopal smoker in England. 
He was banished to Chelsea for marrying 
a second time and, as Camden says, 
' ' smothered his cares by the immoderate 
use of tobacco." He died suddenly, in his 
easy-chair, while smoking his pipe. The 
famous Bishop Burnet always smoked 
while he was writing ; in order to perform 
both operations comfortably, he would 
have a hole through the broad brim of his 
large hat, and, putting the stem of his long 
pipe through it, puff and write, and write 
and puff, with learned gravity. Dean 
Aldrich, the Oxford professor, was such an 
inveterate smoker that a student once laid 
a wager that he would be found smoking 
at ten o'clock in the morning, an early 
hour for him. The student went to the 
Dean's study at the appointed hour and 
related the occasion of his visit, to which 
the Dean replied, in perfect good-humor : 
' * You see you have lost your wager, for 
I'm not smoking, but filling my pipe." 

He was quite musical and composed 
" Hark, the bonny Christ Church bells ;" 
also, " A Smoking Catch, to be sung by 
four men smoking their pipes, not more 
difficult to sing than diverting to hear." 

Some years ago Mr. Spurgeon preached 



48 

a sermon from the text : " I cried with my 
whole heart ; hear me, O Lord ! I will keep 
Thy statutes, I cried unto Thee ; save me, 
and I shall keep Thy testimonies." He 
spoke of the necessity of giving up sin and, 
at the conclusion of the discourse requested 
Eev. Mr. Pentecost, of Boston, who was 
present, to give the personal application of 
the sermon. Mr. Pentecost among other 
things spoke about the great struggle it 
had cost him to give up the use of tobacco. 
He said: "I liked exceedingly the best 
cigar that could be bought, but I felt that 
the Lord required me to give up smoking. 
So I took my cigar-box before the Lord 
and cried to Him for help." This help, he 
intimated, had been given, and the habit 
was renounced. Mr, Spurgeon, who is 
very fond of smoking himself, instantly 
rose at the conclusion of Mr. Pentecost's 
address, and, with a somewhat playful 
smile, observed that some men could do to 
the glory of God what in other men would 
be sin : " Notwithstanding what Brother 
Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a 
good cigar to the glory of God before I go 
to bed to-night. If anybody can show me 
in the Bible the command, * Thou shalt 
not smoke,' I am ready to keep it ; but I 
haven't found it yet. Why, a man may 
think it is a sin to have his boots blacked. 
"Well, then, let him give it up, and have 
them whitewashed. I am not ashamed of 
anything whatever that I do, and I don't 



49 

feel that smoking makes me ashamed, and 
therefore I mean to smoke to the glory of 
God." This manly utterance created con- 
siderable excitement in church circles, and 
Mr. Spurgeon wrote a letter to the ' ' Daily 
Telegraph," in which he maintained his 
right to smoke. He said : *' I will not own 
to sin when I am not conscious of it. 
There is growing up in society a Pharisaic 
system, which adds to the commands of 
God the precepts of men : to that system 
I will not yield for an hour. No Christian 
should do anything in which he cannot 
glorify God ; and this may be done, ac- 
cording to Scripture, in eating, and drink- 
ing, and the common actions of life . When 
I have found intense pain relieved, a weary 
brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep 
obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful 
to God and have blessed His name." 

" When love grows cool, thy fire still warms me ; 
When friends are fled, thy presence charms me ; 
If thou art full, though purse be bare, 
I smoke, and cast away all care 1" 

Smoking is a promoter of benevolence. 
The celebrated German philanthropist, 
Father Zeller, who was a great smoker 
himself, said : "When I call upon a man 
of distinction to ask a favor and I notice a 
pipe or a cigar-box on the mantel-piece, 
my hopes rise fifty per cent at once. I am 
almost sure of success." The use of the 
pipe he believed to be the emblem of a 
cheerful, liberal disposition of mind. 



50 

IV. 

The Oeigin of the Cigae — A Popular 

FOKM OF THE WeED IN ALL PaBTS OF Eu- 

EOPE AND America — Bismarck's Story of 
Cigar-Smoking at a Diplomatic Confer- 
ence — How THE Smoker has a Great Ad- 
vantage IN Conversation— The Differ- 
ent Varieties of Cigars — Celebrated 
Lovers of the Weed — How to Enjoy a 
Cigar — Curious Superstitions of Cigar- 
Smokers. 

The aborigines of America were the 
first to make tobacco into the rude form 
of a cigar. Columbus says that the na- 
tives rolled the tobacco into a tube or sort 
of small funnel, formed of the palm leaf, 
in which the dried leaves of the tobacco 
were placed ; fire was applied to it and the 
smoke was inhaled. He speaks of this 
kind of smoking being much used after- 
wards by captains of ships trading to the 
"West Indies, and says that they attributed 
to it the power of allaying hunger and 
thirst, exhilarating the spirits, and reno- 
vating the animal powers. 

In the narrative of the second voyage 
of Columbus in 1494, we are informed that 
the natives reduced the tobacco to a pow- 
der, "which they take through a cane 
half a cubit long ; one end of this they 
place in the nose and the other upon the 
powder, and so draw it up, which purges 
them very much." This seems to be the 



51 

first notice of snuff -taking ; its effects up- j 
on the Indians seem to have been more 
violent and peculiar than upon Europeans 
since. 

In 1699 a traveller, writing of the Ind- 
ians, says that when the tobacco leaves 
are properly dried and cured, the natives, 
"laying two or three leaves upon one an- 
other, they roll up all together sideways, 
into a long roll, yet leaving a little hollow. 
Round this they roll other leaves one after 
another in the same manner, but close and 
hard, till the roll is as big as one's wrist, 
and two or three feet in length." 

The cigar began to be in vogue among 
the Spaniards at the beginning of the sev- 
enteenth century. They smoked the leaf 
rolled simply or in a leaf of maize, accord- 
ing to the Indian fashion. Although 
highly appreciated in Spain, the cigar did 
not become acclimated in France much 
before 1830. At that period the princes 
used to distribute cigars among persons 
with whom they wished to be popular. 
Oftentimes the recipients of these royal 
favors detested tobacco, but felt obliged 
to smoke in order to be well at court. The 
republic of 1848 showed as much partial- 
ity for the pipe as for the cigar, while the 
second empire finished by vulgarizing the 
cigar. Certain high personalities of that 
time made a reputation for themselves as 
great smokers, and particularly as con- 
sumers of good cigars. The panatellas of 



52 

Count Jezersky, the trabucos of Prince de 
la Tour d'Auvergne, the regalias of Count 
Cosse, and the londres of Prince Serge 
Gralitzin were renowned. 

Modern Spaniards are fond of cigar- 
smoking. In a Spanish book there is a 
funny picture of a ball-room scene in 
Spain, in which there is a fat Spanish 
countess performing a fandango while she 
smokes her cigar, of which she is reported 
to have consumed several during the even- 
ing. 

The manufacture and use of cigars in 
Northern Europe only dates from the close 
of the last century. In 1798 the fashion 
began in Hamburg and soon spread. 
Scented cigars were at one time fashion- 
able, and were perfumed with vanilla. 
German cigars are inferior to the Ameri- 
can brand, and are very mild. In Austria 
and the Italian States their manufacture is 
a government monopoly. 

In Burmah the smoking of cheroots 
with wrappers made of the leaves of the 
Then-net tree is very common. In mak- 
ing them, a little of the dried root, chop- 
ped fine, is added, and sometimes a small 
portion of sugar. A traveller says he has 
seen children two and three years of age, 
stark naked, tottering about with a lighted 
cigar in their mouth. 

Smoking is a common social custom in 
Paraguay. Servants in a home bring in a 
brass vessel, containing a few coals of fire. 



53 

and a plate of cigars. Men, women and 
children smoke ; in the oflSce, the draw- 
ing-room, at the dinner-table, and even at 
balls and theatres. It is the same in Cen- 
tral America, where every gentleman car- 
ries in his pocket a silver case, with a long 
string of cotton, steel and flint, and one of 
the oflSces of gallantry is to strike a light ; 
by doing it well he may kindle a flame in 
a lady's heart ; at all events, to do it bun- 
glingly would be ill-bred. 

Sublime tobacco 1 which from Eaet to West, 
Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's rest ; 
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides 
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides"; 
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand, 
Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand ; 
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe, 
When tipp'd w^ith amber, mellow, rich and ripe ; 
Like other charmers, wooing the caress 
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress ; 
Tet thy true lovers more admire by far 
Thy naked beauties— give me a cigar 1 

Bismarck, the Prussian statesman, tells 
how all the members of the military com- 
mission of the Diet at Frankfort took to 
smoking at their sittings. At first the 
president, Count Rechberg, was the only 
one who smoked, until one day Bismarck 
coolly asked him for a light and began 
smoking a cigar. The other delegates wrote 
to their respective governments for instruc- 
tions, and the subject, being a grave matter, 
required six months for reflection. Mean- 
while the Hanoverian representative 
smoked, so as to be even with Bismarck, 



54 

seeing which, others produced a cigar so 
as to be equal with him. The last two 
delegates to join the circle of smokers were 
not in the habit of using the weed. As 
wise diplomats, however, they could not 
allow their colleagues to blow clouds in 
their faces without blowing back. The 
honor of their respective countries was in- 
volved. "One of them," says Bismarck, 
" brought out an indefinable cigar — pale, 
yellow, thin, tapering and enormously 
long. He smoked it bravely, with all his 
might, and almost to the stump, thus giv- 
ing a magnificent example of devotion to 
his country." 

In 1871, at the time of one of the inter- 
views between Prince Bismarck and Jules 
Favre, the Chancellor began by asking 
the French statesman if he would have a 
cigar. Jules Favre bowed, and replied 
that he never smoked. " You are wrong," 
rejoined Bismarck. "Whenever gentle- 
men begin a conversation that may some- 
times lead to discussions and occasion vio- 
lent language, it is much better to smoke 
while talking. As you smoke," he con- 
tinued, lighting a fine Havana, "the cigar 
that you hold and handle and do not wish 
to let fall, paralyzes somewhat the physi- 
cal movements. Morally, without depriv- 
ing us in any way of our mental faculties, 
it lulls us slightly. The cigar is a diver- 
sion ; the blue smoke which mounts spiral- 
ly and that you follow with your eyes in 



55 

spite of yourself, renders you more con- 
ciliatory. You are happy, your sight is 
occupied, your hand is retained, and your 
sense of smell is satisfied. You are dis- 
posed to make mutual concessions. Well, 
our work as diplomatists is made of recip- 
rocal and unceasing concessions. You, 
who do not smoke, have one advantage 
over me. You are more wide awake. 
But you have one disadvantage : you are 
more inclined to be hasty," he said with a 
sly smile. 

Another famous statesman found the ci- 
gar useful in diplomacy. Mazzini, the 
Italian exile, was forewarned that his 
assassination had been planned, and that 
men had been dispatched to London for 
the purpose, but he made no attempt to 
exclude them from his house. One day 
the conspirators entered his room and 
found him listlessly smoking. "Take ci- 
gars, gentlemen," was his instant invita- 
tion. Chatting and hesitation on their 
part followed. " But you do not proceed 
to business, gentlemen," said Mazzini ; " I 
believe your intention is to kill me." The 
astounded miscreants fell on their knees, 
and at length departed with the generous 
pardon accorded them, whilst a longer 
puff of smoke than usual was the only 
malediction sent after them. 

Thackeray says that the man who 
smokes has a great advantage in conversa- 
tion. " You may," he says, '^ stop talking 



56 

if you like, but tlie breaks of silence never 
seem disagreeable, being filled up by the 
puffing of the smoke ; hence there is no 
awkwardness in resuming the conversa- 
tion, no straining for effect, sentiments 
are delivered in a grave, easy manner. 
The cigar harmonizes the society, and 
soothes at once the speaker and the sub- 
ject whereon he converses. I have no 
doubt that it is from the habit of smoking 
that Turks and American Indians are such 
monstrous well-bred men." 

How precious a cigar may be to a 
smoker is illustrated by an anecdote told 
by Bismarck himself, who says that at 
Koniggi'atz he had only one cigar in his 
pocket, which he carefully guarded as a 
miser does his treasure. He looked for- 
ward to the happy hour when he should 
enjoy it, after the battle. " But," he says, 
" i had miscalculated my chances. A 
poor dragoon lay helpless, with both 
arms crushed, murmuring for something 
to refresh him. I felt in my pockets, and 
found that I had only gold, which 
would be of no use to him. But stay, I 
had still my treasured cigar. I lighted it 
for him and placed it between his teeth. 
You should have seen the poor fellow's 
grateful smile. I never enjoyed a cigar so 
much as that one which I did not smoke." 

Earl Russell was once questioning 
Tennyson about his visit to Venice. After 
the poet had said he had seen the Bridge 



57 

of Sighs, the pictures and all the wonder- 
ful things in the city, the Earl was very- 
much surprised to hear him say he didn't 
like Venice. " How ! Indeed 1 Why 
noti Mr. Tennyson ?" " They had no 
good cigars there, my lord ; and I left 
the place in disgust." 

-The warmth of thy glow, 

Well-lighted cigar, 
Makes happy thoughts flow, 

And drives sorrow afar. 

The stronger the wind blows. 
The brighter thou burnest 1 

The dreariest of life's woes, 
Less gloomy thou turnest. 

As I feel on my lip 

Thy unselfish kiss, 
Like thy flame-color'd tip, 

All is rosy-hued bliss. 

No longer does sorrow 

Lay weight on my heart ; 
And all fears of the morrow 

In joy-dreams depart. 

Sweet cheerer of sadness I 

Life's own happy star ! 
I greet thee with gladness, 

My friendly cigar 1 

The claro is the mildest grade of cigar ; 
Colorado claro is the next, then Colorado 
maduro, then Colorado medium, and ma- 
duro strongest. There are five degrees 
of strength, as marked on cigar boxes, in 
the ordinary course of trade. There are 
certain terms used to describe the shape of 



58 

a cigar t coqueta, the smallest ; concha, 
medium ; perfecto, large ; Figaro, a shape 
between coqueta and concha. Invincible 
are the largest of all, though perfecto ci- 
gars are made that have as much tobacco 
in them. Some invincible cigars are seven 
inches long. The panatella is two-thirds 
as long as a lead-pencil, and of about the 
same diameter. The perfecto is fairly 
long, big-bellied and usually dark in color. 
Diiferent manufacturers grade their cigars 
differently; the Colorado claro of some 
makers is as mild as the claro of other 
makers. 

Speaking of mild cigars, it is said that 
Mazzini had canary birds flying free about 
his room, and that he always smoked while 
he wrote. Lord Montairy, in "Lothair," 
smoked cigars so mild and delicate in fla- 
vor that his wife never found him out. 
Mazzini surely must have had some Mon- 
tairy cigars, for his canaries did not find 
him out, or object to him if they did ! 

The attempts made throughout the 
world to cultivate the Cuban plant have not 
given any satisfactory results ; on the other 
hand, the demand for Havana cigars has 
increased enormously. As long as the fer- 
tile soil of Vuelta Abajo gave sufllciently 
abundant crops without manuring, the 
price of tobacco did not advance ; but lit- 
tle by little the soil became exhausted, and 
the consumption steadily increasing, the 
planters used strong fertilizers, such as 



59 

guano and house refuse. The result of 
this ii;itense cultivation has been satisfac- 
tory for the Cuban planters, but unfavor- 
able for the smokers. It is certain that 
three-quarters of the cigars sold as Havan- 
as do not contain any Vuelta Aba jo tobac- 
co, or at least only the remains of the bad 
leaves. Cigar-making has reached such a 
perfection in the United States that it is 
very difficult to distinguish the imported 
cigar from the domestic, except by trying 
it ; and in many cases the most experi- 
enced smoker can scarcely tell the differ- 
ence. 

In Spain, the Seville manufactory has 
acquired a European reputation for the 
making of high-priced cigars, and pro- 
duces an article equal in appearance to the 
finest Havana. In Belgium and at Ham- 
burg and Frankfort, cigars are made of 
beet-root leaves steeped in a decoction of 
tobacco juice, and sold as pure Havanas. 
Germany, for that matter, excels in coun- 
terfeiting Havana cigars. The manufac- 
turers there take a poor quality of Vir- 
ginia or Rhine tobacco as a filling, and 
cover it v^ith a magnificent wrapper. As 
soon as a vessel from Cuba is signalled off 
Hamburg or Bremen, thousands of these 
bogus Havanas, all packed in boxes, 
marked and ribboned, as though made at 
the Gem of the Antilles, are put on board. 
When the ship reaches her dock these ci- 
gars are entered at the Custom House as 



60 

coming from Havana. The cedar- wood, 
the paper, and even the little nails used in 
the manufacture of the boxes, are sent to 
Germany by the Cuban merchants. 

To-da}'-, as half a century ago, cigars are 
made by hand, for no one has yet been 
able to invent a machine that will roll a 
cigar with the same care as a woman's fin- 
gers. In France alone, more than 17,000 
women are employed in the Government 
tobacco manufactories, and a good hand 
can roll from 100 to 150 choice cigars in 
ten hours. These women are not allowed 
to speak during working time, but when 
they leave the factory they make up for 
lost time. In the cheaper cigars, French 
and foreign tobaccos are always more or 
less mixed, the proportions being variously 
regulated. The ordinary one and two- 
cent cigars are made of French, Kentucky, 
Algerian or Hungarian leaves. All the ci- 
gars sold at ten cents and above are 
bought directly by the French Regie from 
the Havana manufacturers. These cigars 
are, upon their arrival, sent to the Govern- 
ment factory in the quarter known as 
Gros Caillou, where they are unpacked 
and examined to see if they have arrived 
in good condition. To make sure, three 
inspectors take a handful here and there 
and smoke them, not for themselves, but 
for the public. If the experts find that 
the cigars have lost any of their qualities 
of taste or flavor they reduce the price, 



61 

and if the change is too marked, the lot is 
shipped to some foreign country and sold at 
the best price attainable. Sometimes these 
damaged cigars are smuggled back to 
France and sold at high prices. And the 
flats who buy and smoke them with delight 
exclaim: "If the Regie would only fur- 
nish us such cigars ! " 

Yery expensive cigars are bought by the 
aristocracy of Europe — princes and kings 
principally. The Czar of Russia smokes 
a dozen $1.50 cigars a day. In former 
times the best Hp.vana tobacco leaves were 
reserved for cigars for the King of Spain, 
and one particularly large and fine kind of 
cigar was used especially by the priests ; 
such being made from the picked leaves 
which were presented to the Church and 
manufactured by the monks themselves. 

In a play written in the seventeenth cen- 
tury the hero says : " Look at me— follow 
me — smell me 1 The ' stunning cigar ' I am 
smoking is one of a sample intended for 
the Captain-General of Cuba, and the King 
of Spain, and positively cost a shilling I 
Oh ! I have some dearer at home. Yes, 
the expense is frightful, but who can 
emoke the monstrous rubbish of the 

r 

CONFESSION OF A CIGAR-SMOKER. 

I owe to smoking, more or less, 
Through life the whole of my success ; 
With my cigar, I'm sage and wise- 
Without, I'm dull ae cloudy ekiee. 



62 

When smoking all my ideas soar. 
When not, they sink upon the floor. 
The greatest men have all been smokers, 
And so were all the greatest jokers. 
Then ye, who'd bid adieu to care, 
Come here and smoke it into air. 

Richard Person, the celebrated Greek 
scholar, was not only very fond of alcohol- 
ic stimulants, but consumed prodigious 
quantities of tobacco. On one of his or- 
gies, which he would indulge in after 
weeks of unremitting labor, he emptied a 
half-pound canister of snuff, and in one 
night smoked a large bundle of cigars. 
" Previous to this exhibition," said the host 
who had entertained him, ' ' I had always 
considered the powers of man limited." 

Mr. Goodman, an Englishman well 
known in turf circles, in 1860, on a wager, 
smoked one pound of strong foreign rega- 
lias within twelve hours. The cigars ran 
eighty-six to the pound, so that the smoker 
consumed eight an hour. He commenced 
his task at 10 A. m. and finished at 
7.20 o'clock p. M. In the course of nine 
hours and twenty minutes seventy-two 
cigars were fairly smoked out, the greatest 
number consumed being in the second 
hour, when the smoker disposed of no less 
than sixteen. At the seventy -second cigar, 
when fourteen only remained to be 
smoked, the backer of time gave in, find- 
ing that Mr. Goodman was sure to win. 
The smoker declared that he felt no un- 
pleasantness during the task. The only 



63 

refreshment taken was a chop at two 
o'clock, and two-thirds of a pint of brandy 
in cold water at intervals during the 
smoking. 

A regular smoker in Cuba will consume 
perhaps twenty or thirty cigars a day, but 
they are all fresh. What we call a fine 
old cigar, a Cuban would not smoke. 

Girardin was a great smoker. Charles 
Dickens met him in Paris, and says that 
after dinner the Frenchman asked him if 
be would not step into another room and 
smoke a cigar. After entering the apart- 
ment, Girardin coolly opened a drawer, 
containing about 5000 inestimable cigars 
in prodigious bundles ; just as the captain 
of the robbers in Ali Baba might have 
gone to the corner of the cave for bales of 
brocade. 

Nearly all literary men have been friend- 
ly to tobacco. Jules Sandeau says that 
the cigar is one of the greatest triumphs of 
the old world over the new. It is an in- 
dispensable complement of all idle and 
elegant life, and the man who does not 
smoke cannot be regarded as perfect. He 
says that the cigar of to-day has taken the 
place of the little romances, coffee and 
verses of the seventeenth century. Spain, 
Turkey and Havana have yielded up to us 
the most precious treasures of their smoke- 
enwrapt dreamland. Speaking of the 
charming reveries that come to the cigar- 
smoker, he says : ■' Let me tell you, that if 



64 

you have never found yourself extended 
upon a divan with soft and downy cush- 
ions on some winter's evening before a 
clear and sparkling fire, enveloping the 
globe of your lamp or the white light of 
your wax candle with the smoke of a well- 
seasoned cigar, letting your thoughts ascend 
as uncertain and vaporous as the smoke float- 
ing around you, let me tell you, I repeat, that 
if you have never yet enjoyed this situa- 
tion, you have still to be initiated into one 
of the sweetest of our terrestrial jo^'^s. 
The cigar deadens sorrow, distracts our en- 
forced inactivity, renders idleness sweet 
and easy to us, and peoples our solitude 
with a thousand gracious images. Soli- 
tude without friend or cigar is indeed in- 
supportable to those who suffer. It is 
through the fragrant weed that we drift 
into indolence, and become dreamy, con- 
templative, useless creatures. Thackeray 
called the cigar the greatest creature- com- 
fort of his life— a kind campanion, a gen- 
tle stimulant, an amiable anodyne, a 
cementer of friendship. 

To enjoy a cigar, according to epicurean 
fashion, the end should be cut smoothly 
off by the clipper, the cigar should be 
blown through for the purpose of remov- 
ing all the little particles of dust which 
cannot be avoided in manufacture ; this 
prevents them from being inhaled into the 
throat and from producing coughing. 
The cigar should then be lighted — ^thor- 



65 

oughly lighted all over the surface of the 
end. Three or four puffs every minute 
-will enable one to enjoy the smoke. The 
smoke should be kept in the mouth a short 
time in order to appreciate the flavor. 
Then it should be emitted slowly. In 
case one side of the cigar should burn and 
leave a ragged edge on the other side, a 
gentle blow through the cigar toward the 
lighted end will ignite the ragged side 
and it will burn regularly. If a cigar is 
smoked in this way, it is a pleasure. 

A man's disposition is shown by the 
way he smokes a cigar. Tranquil men 
smoke a cigar without the ashes falling off. 
A nervous man taps with his little finger 
on the cigar, or the motions of his hand 
will cause the ashes to fall off. Some 
men smoke a cigar steadily and evenly, 
others make it ragged and light it several 
times in the course of a conversation. 

If a man smokes his cigar only enough 
to keep it lighted, and relishes taking it 
out of his mouth to watch the curl of the 
smoke in the air, he may be set down as 
an easy-going man. The man who never 
releases his grip on the cigar is cool, cal- 
culating and exacting. The man who 
smokes and stops alternately is easily af- 
fected by circumstances. The man whose 
cigar goes out frequently is of a whole- 
souled disposition. The man who " mon- 
keys" with his cigar is a sort of popin- 
jay among men. The fop stands his ci- 



66 

gar on end, but the experienced smoker 
points it straight ahead or almost at right 
angles with his course. The question has 
often been raised among smokers as to 
when a cigar tastes best. This can only 
be decided by each smoker for himself ; 
but nearly all lovers of the weed enjoy a 
smoke after eating a meal. 

An epicure, prominent in one of the New 
York clubs, says that a cigar tastes best in 
the morning. The reason for this is, that 
the man at that time is fresh and invigo- 
rated. If a man smokes many cigars in a 
day, he cannot enjoy them ail equally well. 
It is like taking too many cocktails before 
dinner ; the man who does that cannot 
appreciate the best effects of a good cook 
or the delicate bouquet and flavor of a 
fine Burgundy. 

Cigar-smokers have certain superstitions 
for which they cannot very well give 
reasons. Some do not believe that a man 
sliould smoke after breakfast or imme- 
diately before meals ; others think that a 
cigar that has once gone out does not 
smoke so well as a cigar burned through 
steadily ; that the last inch of a cigar is 
the best, and that the strength of a cigar 
is determined by the color of the wrapper. 
Smokers do not stop to consider that the 
wrapper forms but a small part of the 
bulk of a cigar, and that its strength or 
mildness is determined by the filler and 
not by the wrapper. There is a prejudice 



67 

ia the minds of most smokers against 
smoking a cigar that has once gone out ; 
but the fact that lialf an inch of a cigar 
has been smoked does not necessarily 
make tlie rest of it worthless. 

A young man once consulted the fa- 
mous Dr. Aberaethy. After interrogating 
the patient upon his life and habits, Aber- 
nethy was puzzled to account for the state 
in which he found the sufferer ; suddenly 
a thought struck him. " Do you expecto- 
rate, sir ?" he enquired. The patient replied 
that since he smoked a good deal, spitting 
had become habitual to him. " Ah ! that 
need not cause you to expectorate," mused 
the doctor. " Well, well," he resumed, 
" I'll just take time to think over your 
case ; you can call on me to-morrow morn- 
ing, at eleven o'clock, for a prescription," 
The following morning. Dr. Abernethy's 
patient punctually made his appearance. 
" I'm very sorry, sir, but I have a pressing 
engagement just now ; if you'll step up- 
stairs into my drawing-room and wait for 
half an hour, you'll find a box of Colora- 
dos to amuse yourself with." "Well, 
now, what do you think of my cigars ?" 
said Abernethy, when, in the course of an 
hour, he came into the room in which his 
patient awaited him — a room, be it said, 
luxuriously furnished with every possible 
convenience except that of a spittoon. " I 
enjoyed the first so much that I could not 
help taking a second." "But where. 



63 

then,'* said the doctor, prying curiously 
under the table and inside the grate, 
"have you been spitting ?" " Good gra- 
cious, doctor, what can you be thinking of, 
to imagine that, in such a place, I should 
do otherwise than swallow my spittle !" 
"Pay me my fee," said the doctor, "and 
go, and remember ! never say that you can- 
not smoke without spitting. That is your 
sole complaint." 

A cigar is good even after it ceases to be 
a cigar. It is is said that cigar ashes 
mingled with camphorated chalk make an 
excellent tooth-powder ; or ground with 
poppy-oil, will afford for the use of the 
painter a varied series of delicate grays. Old 
Isaac Ostade so utilized the ashes of his 
pipe ; but had he been aware of Havanas, 
he would have given us pictures even 
more pearly in tone than those which he has 
left for the astonishment and delight of 
mankind, 



Y. 

How Pipes are Made-— Curious Snuff- 
boxes— Snuff - Taking IN England, 
Spain, Italy, and France — Famous 
Lovers of Snuff— Rare Collections 
OF Remarkable Snuff-Boxes — How 
to Take a Pinch of Snuff. 

A curious old pipe-maker in New York, 
an Austrian by birth, boasts of having 
served a long apprenticeship at his trade, 
and says that he passed six examinations in 
his profession, in amber, meerschaum, rub- 
ber, ivory, wood and metals. He is an 
adept in carving, and has made an amber 
skull less than three quarters of an inch in 
height in which the bones and articulations 
are distinctly marked. The carving is so 
fine that a magnifying glass has to be used 
to see it in detail. Another is a holder, 
where a monk with a hollow head for 
cigarettes is laughing, but it requires a 
magnifying glass to see the lines of his 
mirth. Another design is a wine bowl in 
form of a skull, hollowed out for 
cigarettes. The most costly pipe repre- 
sents a mermaid holding a sea shell close 
to her breast ; her scaly tail is twined about 
a large branch of white coral, which be- 
comes brown when the pipe is smoked. 

When an order comes for a pipe the 
proprietor selects from his stock of meer- 
schaum a piece from which it can be cut 
with as little loss as possible. Four-fifths 



70 

of the meerschaum is wasted, though the 
chips are often saved and made into imita- 
tion meerschaum pipes. The meerschaum 
is first cut on a circular saw into a piece a 
little larger than the pipe. If the cutting 
shows cracks or holes it is cast aside. Then 
it is soaked in water for fifteen minutes 
and cut the rough shape with a knife. 
Then a hole is drilled through it and it is 
turned, after which the stem is inserted. 
It is smoothed off when dry, boiled in wax, 
and polished, and is then ready for the 
market. 

The amber is worked with a razor-like 
chisel and turning wheel. After being 
rounded it is held against the face of a 
roughened wheel until it is made to approx- 
imately the required size. Then a hole is 
bored through it. This is the process for 
the cheaper amber stems, which can be 
made in a quarter or half an hour ; a stem 
for a costly pipe will take a day. It takes 
three days to make a good, plain meer- 
schaum pipe, but a carved pipe may re- 
quire several months. The dust and chips 
from the amber and meerschaum are 
saved ; the amber dust is melted and made 
into amberine, and the meerschaum dust is 
made into a paste from which imitation 
meerschaum pipes are m.ade. 

Quaint forms are as common to snuff- 
boxes as to tobacco-pipes. One favorite in 
the last century was a lady's shoe, carved 
in wood and ialaid with threads of silver 



7i 

to imitate ornamental stitclies. Coffins 
were also hideoasly adapted to liold the 
fragrant "dust." A coiled snake, whose 
central folds form the lid, was a box for a 
naturalist ; a book might serve for a stu- 
dent, and a boat for a sailor. All persons 
and all states may be "fitted" with a 
proper receptacle for the pungent dust they 
love so well, and of which the rhymester 
sings : 

" What strange and wondrous virtue must there be, 
And secret charm, O enuff , concealed in thee ! 
That bounteous Nature and inventive Art, 
Bedecking thee, thus all their powers exert ; 
Their treasures and united skill bestow 
To set thine honours in majestic show ! 
But oh ! what witchcraft of a stronger kind, 
Or cause too deep for human search to find, 
Makes earth-born weeds imperial man enslave. 
Not little souls, but e'en the wise and brave 1" 

Gillespie, an Englishman, who made a 
fortune out of making a snuff which bore 
his name, had this motto for the arms 
on his carriage : 

" Who could have thought it 
That noses had bought it ?" 

The Scotch were such large snuff-takers 
that the figure of a Highlander helping 
himself to a pinch was used as a sign by 
the snuff -shops. An old Highlander in 
urging a friend to visit him says : 

" There'll be plenty of pipe, and a glorious supply 
Of the good sneesh-te-bacht, and the fine cut and 
dry ; 



73 

There we'll drink foggy Care to liis gloomy abodes, 
And we'll smoke, till we sit in the clouds, like the 
gods. 

Snuff was first used medicinally, partic- 
ularly for diseases of the head brought on 
by colds. Catherine de Medicis was the 
first so to use it in the court of France, 
about 1562. An old English doctor in 
1810 recommended snuff; " being drawne 
up into the nostrels, cause sneesing, con- 
suming and "spending away grosse and 
slimie humors from the ventricles of the 
braine." Another method of using it was 
to make it into small suppositories, or pel- 
lets, and put them up into the nose. The 
Irish were remarkable snuff-takers. A 
writer in 1659 informs us : " The Irish are 
altogether for snuff tobacco to purge their 
brains." 

During the early part of the seventeenth 
century taking a pinch of snuff was com- 
mon in Spain, Italy and France. Pope 
Innocent XII.,. in 1690, excommunicated 
those who should take snuff or tobacco in 
St. Peter's at Rome. But the prelates and 
religious community were fond of it, in 
spite of the Pope and his ordinances, and a 
writer of those days says, " The Spanish 
priests will not scruple to place their snuff- 
boxes on the altar for their use." 

At this time tobacco was reduced to a 
rough powder by pounding or grating. 
In America the tobacco was laid away in 
twisted rolls and taken out. as occasion re- 



73 

quired, for the purpose of being made into 
smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco, or 
snuff. When snuff was made a quantity 
was taken from the roll and laid in a room 
where a fire was kept. In a day or two 
it would be dry, and was rubbed on a 
grater, producing a genuine snuff. Some- 
times it. was scented by the use of odorifer- 
ous waters. 

The outfit of a fashionable snuff-taker at 
this period was quite costly, and the 
tobacco-grater, formed of ivory, was richly 
carved with a variety of scroll ornament 
enclosing fanciful scenes of various kinds. 
The snuff-grating machine was very much 
like the ordinary grater used to grate nut- 
megs. Some manufacturers pounded the 
leaves in a mortar, the pestle being of pe- 
culiar form to allow the more perfect 
mixing of the scents so commonly used. 

Scented snuff gave a chance for a gal- 
lant to pay a compliment : 

" Dear Jenny, if this Bnuff should want 
Such odours as your breath bestows, 
Your touch will give 't a sweeter scent 
Than quintessence of fragrant rose." 

When Dryden frequented Will's coffee- 
house it became a great resort of the wits 
of his time. A newspaper writer of that 
period says that " a parcel of raw, second- 
rate beaux and wits were conceited if they 
had but the honor to dip a finger and 
thumb into Mr. Dryden's snuff-box." 



74 

Frederick the Great loved it so well that 
he carried it in capacious pockets made in 
his waistcoat, that he might have as little 
trouble as possible in getting at it. Dr. 
Johnson was probably a snuff -taker of this 
kind. George II. and Kapoleon carried 
snuff in a similar way. Many of the sover- 
eign pontiffs of the Roman Catholic 
Church have been confirmed snuff -takers. 

So common was the practice in France 
in 1774 that persons distributed boxes of 
snuff to passengers as they crossed the 
bridge in Paris. This was a scheme to in- 
troduce it into general use. At this 
period, an old French writer asserts, there 
was no person in France, of whatever age, 
rank, or sex, that did not take snuff. 

In an English satire, written in 1710, 
the hero's snuff-box is described as being 
filled with a snuff called Orangery : 
" After dinner the ladies, all impatient for 
the first pinch, put in their fingers almost 
all at once ; the gentlemen with some re- 
spect after." 

Addison, in his Spectator, put this perti- 
nent inquiry to the beaux of this period : 
' ' Would it not employ a beau prettily, if, 
instead of playing eternally with a snuff- 
box, he spent some part of his time in 
making one ?" 

" Knows he that never took a pinch, 
Nosey, the pleasure thence which flows ? 
Knows he the titillating joys. 
Which my nose knows ? 



75 

nose 1 I am as proud of thee 
As any mountain of its snows ; 

1 gaze on thee, and feel that pride 

A Roman knows." 

Snuff graters went out of use long ago, 
and are now to be found only in museums 
or private collections. However, as late 
as 1820 there were in France official snuff 
graters, men who travelled from chateau 
to chateau, and from parsonage to parson- 
age to pulverize the tobacco of the priest 
or the dowager. The graters were made 
of wood, ivory, brass, iron, etc., and often 
carved on one side in the most elaborate 
manner ; on the other side were the little 
holes through which the powder fell as 
the roll of tobacco was rubbed over them. 
Besides the simple graters there were 
others, called grimises, surmounted by 
snuff-boxes. Until the end of the 
eighteenth century these snuff graters were 
used exclusively by the upper and richer 
classes. The common people, who could 
not afford the luxury of a grater, or even 
buy their tobacco by the pound, were 
obliged to content themselves with the 
snuff sold at the street corners, which was 
often adulterated with powdered glass " to 
make it more stimulating." 

According to all probability, snuff was 
introduced into the Orient in the seven- 
teenth ceatury. In China the snuff-tak- 
ers are less numerous than the smokers. 
" Smoke for the nose," as the Celestials 



76 

call snuff, is but little used except among 
the Mautchoo Tartars and Mongolians, and 
only by the lettered class and the manda- 
rins. The best snuff, called piyinn, is 
made at Canton, and is rare. Ordinary 
snuff is sent from Portugal and Spain to 
Macao. The Chinese preserve their snuff 
in little bottles of crystal, porcelain, or of 
precious stones, and wear them fixed to 
their belts. Attached to the stopple by a 
little chain is a small spatula in ivory or 
silver, which they use for taking the snuff 
out of the bottle. Then they place the 
snuff on the back of their left hand, near 
the last thumb joint, and inhale it slov/ly, 
with a sort of amorous pleasure. The 
Japanese take their snuff in the same way. 
A like usage exists in India. In that 
country the snuff-boxes are made with 
gourds, cocoanuts, and buffalo horns. In 
Van Diemen's Land the inhabitants use 
iron wood, Huron pines, musk wood, 
whales' teeth, etc. Among the Turks 
there are many snuff -takers, and the habit 
is also prevalent with the Afghanistans. 

Tobacco reached the height of its honors 
at the time of the appearance of snuff"- 
boxes. From the court of France and the 
nobility they passed into the hands of 
everybody during the second half of the 
eighteenth century. They were of all 
shapes and kinds, from the commonest 
wood to the most costly materials. The 
eighteenth century was, indeed, the cen- 



77 

tury of the snuff-box ; not a single nose of 
grand seignior, peasant, marquis, or ballet 
girl escaped its domination. At first the 
portraits on the snuff-boxes were placed 
on the inside of the cover, and at the end 
of a few days the painting turned yellow 
and became almost effaced. An idea of 
mystery was evidently the cause of this 
custom. The grand seigniors used to wear 
their snuff-boxes as jewels, and in their 
houses they displayed them in glass cases 
and on the mantels. Naturally, these 
boxes soon got to be the fashionable pres- 
ent, and were offered for all sorts of 
reasons. Marie Antoinette received fifty- 
two golden ones at her marriage. 

During the revolutionary period, and 
down to 1830, the snuff-box became a po- 
litical instrument, and was used as a sign 
of recognition among the conspirators of 
the different parties. There were snuff- 
boxes called the "Bastille," the " Mira- 
beau," the "Bonnet Phrygien," the 
"Martyr of Liberty," the "Rat Tail," 
"Madame Angot," etc. One of the most 
precious ones existing was given to Danton 
at the time of his marriage by Camille 
Desmoulins ; it now belongs to M. Spuller, 
the ex-Minister. From the Consulate, 
down to the time of the death of Napoleon 
I., the snuff-boxes reproduced his features, 
those of his family, his Generals, and the 
illustrious men of his time. The Emperor 
made presents of valuable snuff-boxes en- 



78 

riched with diamonds, while those that 
he carried were simple, narrow, oval boxes 
in black shell, lined with gold and orna- 
mented with cameos or antique medallions 
in silver. One of the rarest snuff-boxes of 
that period is that given by Pope Pius 
VII. to Napoleon at the time of his corona- 
tion. The little cocked hat that the Em- 
peror wore also gave its shape to one of 
the most popular of snuff-boxes, but it was 
proscribed during the Restoration, After 
1830 the round box with the cover orna- 
mented with portraits or emblems disap- 
peared and was replaced by the large flat 
boxes and hinged cover. This shape, made 
of all sorts of material and more or less 
ornamented, is still used. 

As for the collections of snuff-boxes, 
they are numerous. The Prince de Conti, 
who died in 1776, left 800. Frederick the 
Great is said to have had even more than 
this number ; snuff-boxes were his great- 
est hobby. The Duke of Richelieu had 
one for each day in the year. The 
Regent's collection was also celebrated ; 
it remained in the Orleans family until 
1848, when it was sold at auction. The 
Princesse de Tallard, governess of Louis 
XV. 's children — the legitimate ones — pos- 
sessed a remarkable collection. The 
Fermier-General Pinon, Vig6e, the poet ; 
Lablache, the singer, and the Prince 
Demidoff were celebrated collectors. Of 
a more recent date, two collections are 



worthy of mGntion : the one left by Mme. 
Lenoir to the Louvre, in 1874, consisting 
of 304 boxes in gold, ornamented with 
paintings, enamels, and precious stones ; 
the other belonging to M. Alphonse Maze- 
Sencier, contains a series of all shapes, from 
the eighteenth century to the end of the 
Second Empire, and forms the most com- 
plete history that exists upon the subject. 

Talleyrand was a snuif -taker, not from 
devotion to the habit, but on principle. 
The wily politician used to say (and doubt- 
less Metternich, who was a confirmed snuff- 
taker, would have agreed with him) that 
all diplomatists ought to take snuff, as it 
afforded a pretext for delaying a reply 
with which one might not be ready ; it 
sanctioned the removal of one's eyes from 
those of the questioner ; occupied one's 
hands which might else convict one of 
nervous fidget ; and the action partly con- 
cealed that feature which is least easily 
schooled into hiding or belying human 
feelings — the mouth. If its workings were 
visible through the fingers, those twitches 
might be attributed to the agreeable irrita- 
tion going on above. 

No other article of wrtu has been more 
extensively patronized by the crowned 
heads of Europe, for purposes of presen- 
tation, diplomatic or otherwise, than the 
snuff-box. In evidence of its importance 
as a means of keeping up friendly rela- 
tions with foreign powers, we need only 



80 

quote, from the account of sums expended 
at the coronation of George IV., the fol- 
lowing entry : Messrs. Randell & Bridge, 
for snuff-boxes to foreign ministers, £8205 
15« 5d. 

Gibbon, the historian of Rome, was a 
confirmed snuff-taker, and in one of his let- 
ters has left this account of his mode of 
using it : "I drew my snuff-box, rapp'd 
it, took snuff twice, and continued my 
discourse in my usual attitude of my body 
bent forward, and my forefinger stretched 
out." In the silhouette portrait he is rep- 
resented as indulging in this habit, and 
looking, as Colman expresses it, " like an 
erect, black tadpole, taking snuff." 

The successful strategist Count Moltke 
is an inveterate snuff -taker. In the grand 
three weeks' campaign which culminated in 
that Prussian " Waterloo," the battle of 
Sedan, his plans were assisted by a pound 
of snuff. Throughout the Prussian ad- 
vance, amid its tremendous anxieties, the 
General took snuff to excess, but at the 
supreme moment when the Uhlans an- 
nounced to him the march northward of 
Marshal MacMahon, Moltke literally emp- 
tied his snuff-box as he entered his tent 
to organize the movement which resulted 
ia the capture of Napoleon III. on the Bel- 
gian frontier. And strange to tell, adds 
Mr. Steinmetz, Moltke was actually re- 
quired, by the German "War-OflSce, to pay 
for that memorable pound of snuff at the 



81 

end of the war, when there was presented 
to him the bill (duly signed and counter- 
signed by various officials), which ran, 
" For one pound of snuif supplied to Gen- 
eral Von Moltke, one thaler !" 

As already stated, Frederick the Great 
took large quantities of snuff. To save 
himself the trouble of extracting it from 
his pocket, he had large snuff-boxes placed 
on each mantel-piece in his apartments, and 
from these would help himself as the fancy 
took him. One day he saw, from his 
study, one of his pages, believing himself 
unobserved, put his fingers unceremoni- 
ously into the open box on the adjoining 
mantel-piece. The King said nothing at the 
moment, but after the lapse of an hour he 
called the page, made him bring the snuff- 
box, and bidding the indiscreet youth take 
a pinch from it, said to him, ' ' What do 
you think of the snuff?" "Excellent, 
sire." "And the box?" "Superb, 
sire." "Oh, well, sir, take it, for I think 
it is too small for both of us !" 

The cynical temper of Frederick the 
Great is well known. He once made a pres- 
ent of a gold snuff-box to the brave Count 
Schwerin. Inside the lid the head of an 
ass had been painted. Next day, when 
dining with the King, Schwerin ostenta- 
tiously displayed his snuff-box. The 
King's sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, 
who happened to be staying at Potsdam, 
took it up and opened it. Immediately she 



exclaimed, " What a striking likeness ! In 
truth, brother, this is one of the best por- 
traits I have ever seen of you. " Frederick, 
much embarrassed, thought that the Duch- 
ess was carrying the joke too far. She, 
however, passed the box to her neighbor, 
who gave vent to similar expressions of as- 
tonished admiration. The box made the 
round of the table, and every tongue 
waxed eloquent upon the subject of this 
' * coun terf eit presentment . ' ' The Kin g was 
extremely puzzled, but when the box at 
length reached his own hands, he saw, to 
his great surprise and greater relief, that 
his portrait was indeed really there. The 
wily Count had simply employed an artist 
to remove with exceeding despatch the 
ass's head, and substitute for it the King's 
well-known features. His Majesty could 
not but laugh at the clever device which 
had so completely turned the tables on him. 
Robert Burns was never happier than 
when he could " pass a winter evening 
under some venerable roof and smoke a 
pipe of tobacco or drink water gruel." 
He also took it in snuff. Mr. Bacon, who 
kept a celebrated posting-house north of 
Dumfries, was his almost inseparable asso- 
ciate. Many a merry night did they spend 
together over their cups of foaming ale or 
bowls of whiskey-toddy, and on some of 
those occasions Burns composed several of 
his best convivial songs. The bard and the 
innkeeper became so attached to each other 



83 

that, as a token of regard, Burns gave 
Bacon Ms snutf -box, which for many years 
had been his pocket companion. The 
knowledge of this gift was confined to a 
few of their jovial brethren. But after 
Bacon's death, in 1825, when his household 
furniture was sold by public auction, this 
snuff-box was offered among other trifles, 
and some one in the crowd at once bid a 
shilling for it. There was a general ex- 
clamation that it was not worth twopence, 
and the auctioneer seemed about to knock 
it down. He first looked, however, at the 
lid, and then read in a tremendous voice the 
following inscription upon it : " Robert 
Burns, officer of the Excise." Scarcely 
had he uttered the words, says one who 
was present at the sale, before shilling after 
shilling was rapidly and confusedly offered 
for this relic of Scotland's great bard, the 
greatest anxiety prevailing ; while the bid- 
dings rose higher and higher, till the trifle 
was finally knocked down for five pounds. 
The box was made of the tip of a horn, 
neatly turned round at the point ; its lid is 
plainly mounted with silver, on which the 
inscription is engraved. 

Speaking of Scotland, there is a story of 
the snuff-mull in the Scotch kirk. An 
English lady found herself in a parish 
church not far from Craithie, in a large 
pew occupied by farmers and their wives 
and one or two herdsmen — about a dozen 
in all. Just before the commencement of 



84 

the sermon a large snuff-mull was handed 
round ; and upon the stranger declining to 
take a pinch, an old shepherd whispered 
significantly, " Tak' the sneeshin', mem ; 
tak' the sneeshin'. Ye dinna ken oor min- 
ister ; ye'U need it afore he's dune." ^ 
Here is a pen-picture of the famous 
Bishop Whatelj as a snuff-taker : — The 
logic class is assembled. The door by 
which the principal is to enter is exactly 
opposite to the foot of the stair which de- 
scends from his own apartment. It stands 
open, and presently a kind of rushing sound 
is heard on the staircase. The next in- 
stant, Whately plunges headforemost into 
the room, saying while yet in the door- 
way, " Explain the nature of the third op- 
eration of the mind, Mr. Johnson." But 
as none of the operations of Mr. Johnson's 
mind are so rapid as those of the energetic 
principal, the latter has had time to fling 
himself into a chair, cross the small of one 
leg over the knee of the other, balance him- 
self on the two hind legs of the chair, and 
begin to show signs of impatience, before 
Mr. Johnson has sufficiently gathered his 
wits together. While that process is being 
accomplished, the principal soothes his im- 
patience by the administration of a huge 
pinch — or handful, rather— of snuff to his 
nose, copiously sprinkling his waistcoat 
with the superfluity thereof. Then at last 
comes from Mr. Johnson a meagre answer 
in the words of the text-book, which is fol- 



85 

lowed by a luminous exposition of the 
rationale of the whole of that part of the 
subject, in giving which the lecturer shoots 
far over the heads of the majority of his 
hearers, but is highly appreciated by the 
select few who are able to follow him. 

Directions for taking a pinch of snuff : — 
The true snuff -taker, who is bold in his pro- 
pensities, always has a large wooden snuff- 
box, which he opens with a crash, and 
which he flourishes about him, with an air 
of satisfaction and pride. He takes a pinch 
with three fingers, and then, bringing the 
whole upon his thumb, he sniffs it up with 
that lusty pleasure with which a rustic 
smacks a kiss upon the round and ruddy 
cheek of his sweetheart. 

The true artistic method, however, of 
** taking a pinch" consists of twelve opera- 
tions : — 

1. Take the snuff-box with your right 
hand. 

2. Pass the snuff-box to your left hand. 

3. Rap the snuff-box. 

4. Open the snuff-box. 

5. Present the box to the company. 

6. Receive it after going the round. 

7. Gather up the snuff in the box by 
striking the side with the middle and fore- 
finger. 

8. Take up a pinch with the right hand. 

9. Keep the snuff a moment or two be- 
tween the fingers before carrying it to the 
nose. 



so 

10. Put the snuff to your nose. 

11. Sniff it in with precision by both 
nostrils, and without any grimace. 

12. Shut the snuff-box, sneeze, spit, and 
wipe your nose. 

A spectator in the pit at the Opera felt a 
certain pressure upon his coat-pocket, cf 
the aim and object of which he was but 
too well aware. " You have taken my 
snuff-box," said he quickly but cautiously 
to an individual, of very suspicious aspect, 
who was standing next him. " Return it 
to me, or I — " " Don't make a noise, I 
beseech you ; pray don't ruin me. Here, 
take back your snuff-box," added the 
shabby customer in a low voice, at the 
same time holding his coat-pocket wide 
open, into which the too confiding owner 
of the missing tabatiere thrust his hand. 
The rogue immediately caught hold of it 
and cried "Thief! thief!" and showed 
the imprisoned hand to the spectators. 
The veritable owner of the snuff-box was 
forthwith arrested, but, of course, soon 
proved his innocence. In the mean time, 
however, both snuff-box and accuser had 
disappeared I 



87 

VI. 

The Habit of Chewing Tobacco, or a 
Substitute Common among all Un- 
civilized Races—" Chewing" in Par- 
aguay, in the Far East, Lapland, the 
Cape of Good Hope, etc. — A Curious 
Calculation for Tobacco-Chewers 
and Tea-Drinkers — A Distinguished 
Clergyman's Defence of Chewing — 
" Don't Forget the Pig-Tail" — Pipe- 
SxMOKiNG IN France, Holland, Ger- 
many, Spain and Italy. 

The Malays are fond of a narcotic, and 
tlie indulgence in opium is not unknown, 
but the national indulgence of the race is 
the areca, or betel-nut, a habit characteris- 
tic of a sea-loving people. The use of a 
pipe, especially an opium pipe, would be 
a hindrance to the freedom of their mo- 
tions on board their vessels, and require a 
state of inactivity or repose incompatible 
with a maritime life, in order to be en- 
joyed. This may in part account for the 
prevalence of chewing tobacco in our navy 
and the nut-chewing habit of the Malays. 

In Paraguay everybody smokes, and 
nearly every woman and girl more than 
thirteen years old chews tobacco. A mag- 
nificent Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing 
in diamonds, puts you back with one deli- 
cate hand, while with the fair taper fingers 
of the other she takes the tobacco out of 
her month previous to your saluting her. 



In Siberia boys and girls of nine or ten 
years of age put a large leaf of tobacco into 
their mouths without permitting any saliva 
to escape, nor do they put aside the tobacco 
should meat be offered to them, but con- 
tinue consuming both of them together. 

The Mintria women and other races of 
the great Indian Archipelago are addicted 
to chewing tobacco. Among the Nubians 
the custom is more common than smoking. 

The Finlander delights in chewing. He 
will remove his quid from time to time, 
and stick it behind his ear, and then chew 
it again. This reminds us of a circum- 
stance narrated by a friend, which oc- 
curred when he was a boy. His master 
was a chewer. After a " quid " had been 
masticated for some time it was removed 
from his mouth and thrown against the 
wall, where it remained sticking ; the ap- 
prentice was then called to write beside it 
the date at which it was flung there, so 
that it might be taken down in its proper 
turn, after being thoroughly dried, to be 
chewed over again. 

At the Cape of Good Hope grows a plant 
allied to the ice-plant of our greenhouses, 
and which is a native of the Karroo, which 
appears to possess narcotic properties. 
The Hottentots know it under the name 
of Kow, orKauw-goed. They gather and 
beat together the whole plant, roots, stem, 
and leaves, then twist it up like pig-tail to- 
bacco, after which they let the mass fer- 



ment and keep it by them for chewing, es- 
pecially when they are thirsty. If it be 
chewed immediately after fermentation it 
is narcotic and intoxicating. It is called 
canna-root by the colonists. 

In Lapland, Angelica-root is dried and 
masticated in the same way, and answers 
the same purpose as tobacco. It is warm 
and stimulating, and not narcotic, nor does 
it leave those unpleasant and unsightly evi- 
dences of its use which may be observed 
about the mouth of the true votary of the 
quid. 

The Duke of Marlborough has the credit 
of being the first distinguished man who 
made the chewing of tobacco famous. 

Somebody with a strong antipathy to 
pig-tail and fine-cut has entered into cer- 
tain investigations and calculations in this 
wise : If a tobacco chewer chews for fifty 
years, and uses each day of that period two 
inches of solid plug, he will consume nearly 
one mile and a quarter in length of solid 
tobacco half an inch thick and two inches 
broad, costing $2094. By the same process 
of reasoning, this statist calculates that if 
a man ejects one pint of saliva per day for 
fifty years, the total would swell into 
nearly 3300 gallons — quite a respectable 
lake. 

Another calculation shows that if all the 
tobacco which the British people con- 
sumed during three years were worked up 
into pig-tail half an inch thick, it would 



90 

form a line 99,470 miles long, or enough 
to go nearly four times round the world ; 
or if the tobacco consumed by the same 
people in the same period were to be placed 
in one scale and St. Paul's Cathedral and 
"Westminster Abbey in the other, the eccle- 
siastical buildings would kick the beam. 
Let us compare therewith the tea-consump- 
tion during the past three years. There 
were consumed about 205,500,000 pounds 
of tea, which, if done up in packages con- 
taining one quarter of a pound each (such 
packages being 4i inches in length and 2^ 
inches. in diameter), these placed end to end, 
would reach 59,428 miles ; or, upon the 
same principles as those adopted for the 
pig-tail, would girdle the earth twice with 
a iDelt of tea 2i inches in diameter, or 
twenty-five times that of the aforesaid pig- 
tail — enough to make rivers of tea strong 
enough for any old lady in the kingdom to 
enjoy, and deep enough for all the old 
ladies in the kingdom to bathe in. 

When Rev. Dr. Tiffany, of Minneapolis, 
preached in Chicago, his brethren all knew 
that he loved fine-cut, because he made no 
secret of the chewing habit. He was a 
regular attendant at those Monday morn- 
ing "ministers' meetings" which the 
average reporter hates, but which are 
really enjoyable on account of the bright 
sayings and clever witticisms of preachers 
who do not think they are forbidden to in- 
dulge in a hearty laugh because they oc- 



91 

cupy a pulpit. Wliile Dr. Tiffany was a 
participant in these meetings tlie tobacco 
habit came up for discussion one morning. 
A well-known bishop was presiding. One 
after another the brethren arose and con- 
demned the use of tobacco in any form. 
Then one of them, during a lull, said he 
would like to hear Dr. Tiffany's ideas on 
the subject. The big doctor arose. " I 
chew tobacco," he said, "and you all 
know it. Now I would like to have all 
those who do not use tobacco rise in their 
seats." There was a grand uprising. 
" Remain standing, please," said the doc- 
tor, as he looked over the cadaverous men 
standing before him, " Will those who 
use tobacco pleasa step forward here ?" he 
said, and a half dozan sleek-looking par- 
sons walked up and joined him. " Stand 
up, bishop ; you're a chewer," he said to 
the presiding di/ine, and he joined the 
group. Dr. Tiffany then looked over the 
thin fellows who tabooed tobacco, turned 
to the healthy looking men around him, 
and said : " Brethren, I think we are doing 
pretty well." The argument was un- 
answerable. 

The following letter, written by a sailor, 
aptly illustrates the attitude of Jack Tar 
toward chewing tobacco : 

GrRAYESEND, Mar. 24, 1813. 
Dear Brother Tom : This comes hop- 
en to find YOU in good health as it leaves 



92 

me safe ankor'd here yesterday at 4 p.m. 
arter a pleasant voyage tolerable short 
and a few squalls. Dear Tom, — hopes to 
find poor old father stout, and am quite 
out of pig-tail. Sights of pig-tail at Graves- 
end, but unfortinly not fit for a dog to 
chor. Dear Tom, Captain's boy will bring 
you this, and put pig-tail in his pocket 
when bort. Best in London at the Black 
Boy in 7 diles, where go acks for best 
pig-tail — pound a pig-tail will do, and am 
short of shirts. Dear Tom, as for shirts, 
ony took 2 whereof one is quite wored out, 
and tuther most, but don't forget the pig- 
tail, as I ain't had a quid to chor never 
since Thursday. Dear Tom — as for the 
shirts, your size will do, ony longer. I 
liks um long — get one at present, best at 
Tower-Hill, and cheap, but be particler to 
go to 7 diles for the pig-tail at the Black 
Boy, and Dear Tom, acks for pound best 
pig-tail, and let it be good— Captain's boy 
will put the pig-tail in his pocket, he likes 
pig-tail, so ty it up. Dear Tom. shall be up 
about Monday, there or thereabouts. Not 
so perticler for the shirt, as the present can 
be washed, but don't forget the pig-tail 
without fail, so am your loving brother 

T. P. 
P. S. — Don't forget the pig-tail. 

The French are not great pipe smokers, 
but in Germany the pipe may be said to be 
the national utensil. Passing a good part 



of his existence at the brasserie, or seated 
in his arm-chair at the corner of the fire, 
the German of the old school has adopted 
a pipe that can remain lighted a long time. 
The bowl, in porcelain, lends itself easily 
to ornamentation, while the long stem 
enables him to hold it without burning his 
fingers. The student's pipe is shaped 
something like an Hungarian sabre. It 
is often the sign of recognition with the 
initiated ones of the secret societies so prev- 
alent among the German students. 

The clay pipe is in general use in Europe : 
it is made in France, Belgium, Holland, 
England, Spain, and Italy. The best qual- 
ities require considerable care, and the 
greatest difficulty consists in piercing the 
stem. The porcelain pipes are preferred 
in Germany ; they are made of very pure 
kaolin, and covered with a brilliant enamel. 
The briarwood pipe is manufactured at 
Paris and at Saint-Claude, in the Jura. 
Since Africa has been colonized by the 
French the red clay pipes, with wide-spread 
ing bowl and Oriental designs, have become 
familiar. The genuine pipe of this kind is 
made in Algeria and Morocco, but quanti- 
ties of imitations are manufactured at Mar- 
seilles. The stem for these pipes is usually 
of cherry or jessamine, covered with its 
bark. The finest of these stems come 
from Hungary or from the plateaus of Asia 
Minor, 

The most popular pipe made is the briar- 



94 

wood. Some idea of the favor of this wood 
is furnished by the fact that some manufac- 
turers make 1500 different styles of briar 
pipe, and find a trade for each one of these 
styles. These pipes cost from five cents to 
twenty-five dollars each, according to design 
and the amount of work required to com- 
plete them. The most expensive are finished 
in meerschaum and amber. 

Some of the handsomest pipes in briar 
goods are the Pompeiian pipes made by 
the famous briar pipemaker, Herr Koch, 
of Metz, Germany. The decoration of 
these pipes is unusually artistic. To give 
an idea, one oi the specimens may be de- 
scribed as consisting of a dragon's head. 
The skin is black, that hue being produced 
by charring the wood with hot irons and 
then rubbing it smooth and polishing it ; 
each scale is edged with gold. The inside 
of the mouth is the natural cedar red 
brown of the briar (or more correctly 
bruyere) root, and the tongue is of a bright 
blood red, this color being the plain wood 
highly polished. A large red claw is turned 
backward to support the bowl, and the 
general appearance of the pipe is handsome 
in the extreme. Other fine designs are in 
the form of Pompeiian lamps, the bowl 
being black at the base, decorated by a cor- 
onal of antique pattern, the Mosaic pattern 
being produced by the natural wood, the 
red polished wood, the charred black, and 
the several shades of brown black produced 



95 

by skilful charring. One of these pipes is 
mounted with three pieces of albatross 
quill, laid side by side and connected by 
antique silver joints, so that the smoke 
travels along each of these before it reaches 
the mouth. The stem is really three times 
its nominal length. The bowl is perfectly 
plain, polished black. On the front, carved 
in colors, may be placed the crest, coat of 
arms, or monogram of the owner, his club, 
regiment, or organization : any of these 
designs being executed to order. 

When the pipe made its appearance in 
France, in the reign of Louis XIV., the 
government began to distribute pipes 
among the soldiers. Jean Bart was an in- 
veterate smoker, and the story goes that 
some Bourbon princesses used to smoke 
pipes. There was very little smoking in 
Europe in the eighteenth century. No 
great man of that time was a smoker. 
During the French revolution the pipe was 
comparatively unknown. Neither Robes- 
pierre nor Danton, nor any one of the lead- 
ers of that period, was a smoker. But 
when Napoleon's army returned from 
Egypt the pipe became fashionable. Gen- 
eral Lassalle used to lead his cavalry 
charges with a pipe in his mouth ; and 
d'Oudinot was the possessor of a splendid 
meerschaum, which was presented to him 
by Napoleon, and which was ornamented 
with stones to the value of about $7500. 
General Moreau, when his legs were about 



to be amputated, called for his pipe, that 
lie might smoke it during the operation. 

The Restoration brought about a reac- 
tion against the pipe, and it was not 
until 1830 that it regained a popularity 
which it has preserved up to the present 
time. Except perhaps in England, the 
pipe is considered out of place on the 
street ; but at home it is just the thing in 
all sorts of society, and it is smoked by 
many great men, including Bismarck. 

French poets have frequently compared 
a man's existence to a lighted pipe, whose 
contents pass off in smoke and ashes. In 
an old volume of the eighteenth century, 
entitled " Morale de Gu6rard," there is an 
engraving representing a young man smok- 
ing a clay pipe, and the legend calls him 
the * ' Universal Po rtrait. ' ' This is followed 
by a queer old piece of poetry comparing 
everybody to a lighted pipe. 

From a schism in tobacco-pipes Knicker- 
bocker dates the use of parties in the Niew 
Nederlandts. The rich and self-impor- 
tant burghers who had made their fortunes, 
and could afford to be lazy, adhered to the 
ancient fashion, and formed a kind of 
aristocracy known as the " Long-pipes ;" 
while the lower order, adopting the re- 
form of William Kieft, as more convenient 
in their handicraft employments, were 
branded with the plebeian name of ** short* 
pipes." 



97 

VII. 

Origin of the Cigarette — Famous 
WomenSmokees — Empresses, Queens, 
Princesses, and Women of Fash- 
ion WHO Find Comfort in the Dainty 
Cigarette or the Fragrant Cigar — 
In the Orient the Fair Ones Gossip, 
Smoke, and Drink Coffee — A Peep 
into the Harem— Curious Riddles 
AND Proverbs about Tobacco. 

What is the origin of the cigarette? 
Some authorities assert that its use is as old 
as that of smoking tobacco itself ; but it is 
not possible to be very precise on this point, 
although it is probable that the earliest 
smokers made their own cigarettes. The 
great vogue of the cigarette in France dates 
from the same time as the introduction of 
the cigar, namely, 1830, when the influence 
of romanticism contributed powerfully to 
making it fashionable. Hugo's drama of 
" Hernani" started the taste for Spanish 
things, and the young literary men and 
artists at once took to smoking cigarettes. 
In Spain everybody smokes, and generally 
smokes the cigarette. As soon as two men 
meet one offers cigarettes and the other the 
light. The Spaniards smoke slowly, and 
do not light a second cigarette immediately 
after the first one is finished. Sober in all 
things, the Spaniard knows how to enjoy 
the final taste and the souvenir. He smokes 
everywhere and at all hours : before his re- 



pasts," afterward, and between meals. At 
the theatre, at the bull fights, in the offices, 
and on the railways tobacco has conquered 
its citizenship. 

The Spaniards have a proverb to this 
effect : " A paper cigarette, a glass of fresh 
water, and the kiss of a pretty girl will 
sustain a man for a day without eating." 

One of the greatest charms for the smok- 
er is to make the cigarette himself, and the 
Spaniards are exceedingly clever at this 
work. The most remarkable quality of 
their sovereign, Ferdinand VII., was that 
he could make two cigarettes simultane- 
ously, one with each hand. 

The manufacture of cigarettes in France 
began in 1843, and at first the factory at 
Gros Caillou was able to supply the de- 
mand. Now there are seven factories at 
work, employing 3,000 women, who turn 
out 400,000,000 cigarettes every year, 
French cigarettes are made of ordinary and 
superiorscaf erlati tobacco and sold in vari- 
ous colored packages of twenty ; the 
prices range from six cents to forty cents a 
package. The foreign cigarettes on sale in 
France are generally made of Levant 
tobacco, and American brands are also 
obtainalDle in a few places. The French 
cigarettes are manufactured by a machine 
that fabricates 15,000 in ten hours. 

A vast majority of the Empresses, 
Queens, and Princesses of the world rest in 
the convictionlthat life bears a more beati- 



99 

tiful aspect when seen through the opa- 
lescent clouds of fragrant smoke that issue 
from their delicate mouths. 

Empress Elizabeth, of Austria, smokes 
frOm thirty to forty Turkish and Russian 
cigarettes a day, and for many years it has 
been her inveterate custom to puff away 
after dinner at a strong Italian cigar, one 
of those with a straw running through it, 
and which is brought to her with her cup 
of Turkish coffee every evening on a gold 
salver. She says herself that smoking 
soothes her nerves, and that whenever she 
feels ** blue" a cigar or a cigarette will do 
more than anything else to cause her to see 
things in a happier light. She is a perfect 
Greek and Latin scholar, and when writing 
she smokes almost continually. On her 
writing table are always a large silver box 
of repousse work filled with cigarettes, a 
match-box of carved Chinese Jade, and a 
capacious ash receiver, made of the hoof 
of a favorite hunter, which broke its spine 
over a blackthorn hedge. Almost mechan- 
ically Her Majesty lights cigarette after 
cigarette, as she sits in her great writing- 
room, which is fitted up with carved-oak 
panels and Gobelin tapestries, the sombre 
hue of the walls being relieved here and 
there by trophies of the chase. 

The Czarina of Russia, who is likewise 
one of the vassals of King Nicotine, 
smokes in a somewhat more indolent and 
almost Oriental fs^hion. Stretched on the 



100 

silken cushions of a broad low divan, at 
Gatchnia, she follows dreamily with her 
beautiful dark eyes the rings of blue smoke 
that her crimson Ups part to send upward 
into the perfumed air of her boudoir, a 
boudoir which she calls her "den," and 
which is copied from one of the loveliest 
rooms of the Alhambra. 

Queen Marguerite, of Italy, is another 
of the royal ladies who see no harm in the 
use of tobacco. Her flashing black eyes 
look laughingly through fragrant clouds 
of smoke, and she is wont to declare that 
her cigarette is more essential to her com- 
fort than anything else in life. 

Christina, Queen Regent of Spain, is a 
great advocate of tobacco. She consumes 
a large quantity of Egyptian cigarettes, 
and there is nothing that her little 
' ' Bubi, ' ' His Most Catholic Majesty King 
Alphonso XIII., enjoys more than when 
his mother permits him to strike a match 
and apply the flame to the end of her 
cigarette. When thus engaged the little 
fellow laughs merrily, and indulges in all 
sorts of antics, like a light-hearted little 
monarch that he is. 

His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. at any rate 
does not consider the use of tobacco as a 
vice, else he would scarcely have conferred 
the Golden Rose on so inveterate and con- 
firmed votaries of the weed as Queen Chris- 
tina and the ex-Crown Princess of Brazil. 
Indeed, there is every reason to believe 



101 

that, like many other enhghtened spirits, 
he regards the objection to cigarettes as 
being mere smoke after all. 

The smoking paraphernalia of the beau- 
tiful and voluptuous-looking ex-Queen 
Natalie, of Serbia, is of the most elaborate 
and magnificent description, while the 
poet-Queen of Roumania, so well known 
in the literary world under the pseudonym 
of " Carmen Sylva," is content with a gold 
cigarette case suspended to her chatelaine. 

The Comtesse de Paris, the Queen de 
jure of France, is addicted to mild Havanas 
of delicious flavor, and her daughter. 
Queen Amelia, of Portugal, is a source of 
considerable fortune to the manufacturers 
of Russian cigarettes at Dresden. All the 
Russian Grand Duchesses and most of the 
imperial Archduchesses of Austria, includ- 
ing Marie Therese, Elizabeth and Clothilde, 
smoke to their hearts' content and in the 
most public manner, and their example is 
followed by Queen Olga, of Wurtemberg, 
who is a daughter of Czar Nicholas ; by 
Queen Olga, of Greece, who is likewise a 
Russian Grand Duchess ; by the Princesses 
Leopold and Luitpold, of Bavaria, and by 
Queen Henrietta of Belgium. 

Queen Victoria has an intense horror of 
smoking, and it is strictly prohibited at 
"Windsor Castle, at Balmoral, and at Os- 
borne. This, indeed, is one of the main 
reasons why the visits of the Prince of 
W^es to his aiigust mother are so brief, 



102 

and so few and far between, for the heir 
apparent to the English throne is so little 
accustomed to self-denial and so fond of 
smoking, that he is scarcely ever to be seen 
for an hour together without a cigar or 
cigarette between his lips. The Princess 
Louise, Marchioness of Lome, smokes, but 
both his wife and his daughters, especially 
Princess Maud, are accustomed to indulge 
in a cigarette when in their morning-room 
at Sandringham or Marlborough House. 
Many, in fact most of the great ladies of 
France, such as the Duchesses de Mouchy, 
de la Rochefoucauld-Doudearville, d'Uzes, 
and de Maille, are fond of cigarettes, the 
fashion having been set in France some 
five and thirty years ago by Empress 
Eugenie, who, like all Spaniards, was 
never at her ease except when puffing 
clouds of fragrant smoke from her lips. 
Indeed, during the Napoleonic regime 
there was scarcely a corner in the palace 
of the Tuileries, St. Cloud, or Compiegne 
which was not redolent with the fumes of 
tobacco. Of the members of the Imperial 
French Court, Napoleon's cousin, Princess 
Mathilde, the Princesses de Sagan, the 
Duchess de Persigby, the Marquise de 
Gallifet, the Marquise de Beiboeuf, and the 
Comtesse de Pourtales, may every one of 
them have been said to have seen life only 
through hazy clouds of smoke. In Aus- 
tria and Hungary all the great ladies divide 
their loyalty equally between their beloved 



103 

Emperor on the one hand and Kinff Nico- 
tine on the other, and many is the time that 
the Princess Metternich, Princess Leon- 
tine Furstenberg, Margravin Pallavicini, 
Coimtess Shonborn, Princess Clam-Gallas, 
and Countess Andrassy have been seen 
smoking on the race-course of the Freude- 
nau, or even in the StadtPark, while listen- 
ing to the strains of Strauss's orchestra. 

It is in the Orient, however, that smok-/ 
ing has been developed into a fine art. 
Debarred from all the social pleasures and 
active mode of life of their European sis- 
ters, the ladies of the Zenana are restricted 
to gossip, coffee, and tobacco. Nowhere 
else in the world are these three things 
brought to such a standard of perfection. 
A fair idea of the importance attached 
thereto by Turkish women of high rank 
may be obtained by a visit to the Harem 
of the Khedive of Egypt at the Ismailia 
Palace on the banks of the Nile. The 
audience chamber of His Highness 's only- 
wife is a casket fit for a jewel. The furni- 
ture is of ivory and mother-of-pearl, and 
the hangings of silvery satins, embroidered 
with pale roses and violets in silk and sil- 
ver thread. The ceiling and woodwork are 
painted with groups of flowers, and the glass 
in the windows is milk-white, while the 
floor is covered with thick white Aubusson 
rugs, strewn with a design of rose leaves 
and buds. Here, lying back on a low vel- 
vet divan, is the Vice-Queen, smiling her 



104 

welcome to the approaching visitor. She 
ts stiil extremely beautiful, although a Ut- 
ile too short. Her face is brilliant and 
iovely like a Titian or a Rubens ; her eyes 
are very large and velvety, full of the 
slumberous fires of the Orient ; her scarlet 
lips are like a double camelia petal, and 
her skin of the warm, creamy whitness of 
the tea-rose. She is generally clothed in 
white silken tissues, cut ^ I'Europienne, 
with a great profusion of marvellous lace, 
and a perfect shower of pearls and dia- 
monds glittering on her hair, on her white 
bosom, encircling her wrists and covering 
her small, plump hands. Diamonds 
sparkle everywhere ; the tobacco-box, 
which lies on a low inlaid table near the 
Vice- Queen, is studded with them. The 
inkstand and penholder which adorn her 
writing-desk are all ablaze with splendid 
gems. Her Highness 's slippers are thickly 
sewn with brilliants, and more jewels form 
monograms on all the dainty trinkets which 
surround her, from her gold footstool to her 
powder-box and tortoise-shell hand-glass. 
On her heart the Yice-Queen wears a min- 
iature of her husband framed with huge 
diamonds and rubies, and around her waist 
is a broad band of the same stones to which 
is suspended a fan of snowy ostrich feath- 
ers, its handle encrusted with pearls, emer- 
alds, and sapphires. In spite of all this pro- 
fusion of jewelry, there is nothing discord- 
ant in the sovereign's appearance. The 



105 

nature of the luxury is in perfect keeping 
with her Oriental style of beauty, and the 
setting in absolute harmony with the great 
brilliancy of the picture she presents. 

The Vice-Queen frequently smokes a 
narghile (water-pipe). This suits her 
sty Is of beauty even better than the more 
prosaic cigarette. The bowl is of engraved 
rock crystal mounted in chased gold, fash- 
ioned in the form of a lotus flower. The 
tube is concealed by a deftly wrought net- 
work of pink silk and gold thread, while 
the amber mouth-piece and gold plateau 
are one mass of sparkling jewels. 

Here are some curious riddles and 
proverbs about tobacco. A little book 
hawked about the country in the reign of 
Queen Anne contains the following riddle : 

" What tho' I have a nauseous breath. 
Yet many a one will me commend ; 
I am beloved after death, 
And serviceable to my friend," 

to which is appended the answer, " This is 
tobacco, after cut and dryed, being dead, 
becometh serviceable," The following 
" quaint conceit" is still more clever : 

" To three-fourths of a cross add a circle complete ; 
Let two semicircles a perpendicular meet ; 
Next add a triangle that stands on two feet, 
Then two semicircles and a circle complete." 

", To three-fourths of a cross add a circle complete : TO 

Let two semicircles a perpendicular meet : B 

Next add a triangle that stands on two feet : A 

Then two semicircles and a circle complete : CCO 



106 

A cutty bowl, like a Creole's eye, is most 
prized when blackest. 

Coffee without tobacco is meat without 
salt. — Persian. 

A wealthy Englishman, who left his es- 
tates to Lord Chatham, in admiration of 
his talents, possessed a tobacco-box, on 
which, under a skull, was engraved a Lat- 
in quotation, which has been thus rendered 
in English : 

' Of lordly man, how humble is the type, 
A fleeting Bhadow, a tobacco-pipe I 
BiB mind the fire, his frame the tube of clay, 
His breath the smoke bo idly pufEed away, 
His food the herb that fills the hollow bowl, 
Death is the stopper, ashes end the whole." 

Senator Thurman and Senator Edmunds, 
between whom there was a strong friend- 
ship, were lovers of the pipe. Albert Pike, 
the poet, has written of them : 

" Not from cigars these Senate stars 
Their inspiration drew ; 
Old pipes they smoked, as they sat and joked^ 
Yes, pipes, and cob pipes, too t" 




KISSING : 

The Art of Osculation Curiously^ 

Historically, Humorously and 

Poetically Considered, 

This book, among hundreds of other things, tella 
all about tne origin of kissing ; gives the grammar 
of kissing ; the scientific reason why kisses are 
pleasant ; how to kiss and how to receive a kiss ; 
the secret significance of kisses ; all about lips, "the 
sweet petitioners for kisses ; an Irish kissing festi- 
val ; the kissing customs of different countries aU 
over the world ; when you may kiss with impunity ; 
famous kisses ; the different kinds of kisses ; how 
college girls kiss ; stolen kisses, sometimes called 
•'dainty bits of plunder;" curious bargains forkissesj 
excuses for kissing ; kissing experiences ; the im.- 
portant consequences connected with kissing ; hu- 
morous stories of kissing in tunnels ; men kissing 
each other in France, in England, and in Germany ; 
origin of the custom of kissing the Pope's toe; Henry 
IV, and his punishment; kissing the feet of royalty, 
an ancient custom ; kisses as rewards of genius \ 
the part osculation has paid in politics : curious bar- 
gains for kisses ; what legally constitutes a kiss ; a 
kiss at auction ; giving $50 to kiss Edwin Booth ; 
excuses for kissing ; how all nature justifies the 
practice ; the childish and the humorous excuse j 
iissing casuistry ; the gluttony of kissing ; unac- 
countable osculatory demands; excuses for not kiss- 
ing; Dominie Brown's first kiss ; the kiss of the 
Spanish girl, the nurse, the mother ; a curious 
German custom ; Arrah-na-Pogue ; refusing the 
sacrament on account of a kiss; how a child's kiss 
affects the course of a desperate man; what a little 
mare's kiss did ; brought to life by a Jdss; the kiss 
of death. "* 

An exceedingly interesting book ; a nice little 
present for a lady. Price 25 Cents, For sale by 
Doolcsellers ; or sent postpaid oa receipt of price. 
Address 

UNION BOOK CO., 

Box 157. Bbookxtn, Nasw York. 



1^' 



JOKER'S DICTIONARY. 



Thousands of men, when in the society of 
ladies or gentlemen, want to be entertaining 
and amusing companions, but too often find 
that th^y cannot. 

This great and original book comes to the 
aid of just such people ; it does for the man 
who wants to be witty what Webster's Dic- 
tionary does for the man who wants to be 
wise in the use of words. 

It is a perfect cyclopedia of wit and humor. 

It contains 326 pages, six illustrations, and 
is arranged according to subject, alphabeti- 
cally. That is to say, it is in the style of a 
dictionary. You can find Jokes, Stories, and 
clever bits of repartee, brilliant jests and 
flashes of merriment, on almost every subject 
likely to come up in social intercourse. 

Price, 25 Gents, post paid. 
Address 

UNION BOOK CO., 
Box 157. Brookxtn, Nkw Yobk, 



IEJl'32 



